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Start a Corporate Gifts Business

What you will be doing.  Businesses like to give gifts to corporate clients and prospective clients.  When doing business with executives from other countries, gifts are given to welcome them to this country and the company.  Where do companies find these gifts? 

Your business is providing appropriate gift offerings to corporations.  The easiest way to do this is through gift baskets.  Baskets allow companies to give lavish gifts in a ready made presentable format without having to package the items themselves.  Using a delivery service to ship the items where they need to go is a great touch. 

Gift baskets can say “hello”, “nice to meet you”, “feel at home”, or whatever else a company wants to say.  They can be non-perishable items or foodstuffs.  Creating a catalogue that showcases your unique gift baskets for corporations gives them choices. 

How to start.  Begin with the decision to specialize or not.  In the beginning, looking at small to medium sized companies as potential clients may be more manageable than going for big companies.  Unless you have proven yourself, you will not catch the eyes of bigger fish. 

The companies that you target—Do they deal with international clients?  How much revenue do they bring in?  What types of services and products do they sell?  Tailor your gifts around the companies.  If a company has clients from Germany, researching German culture gives you ideas for the gift basket.   

If gifts are to be given to employees, offer items that can be etched or engraved like lapel pins, glass art, and paperweights.  Designing a line of baskets can increase sales as well.  If companies want to choose their own items for a basket, they can even choose the basket. 

Price the items for the baskets.  This will help you to decide what the selling price will be.  Specialty baskets that require obscure items can be sold for more. 

Start up costs.  The business can be started for under $300.  You will need baskets of all shapes and sizes, shrink wrap, ribbons, bows, and message cards.  Since the baskets you create are unique to your business, have stickers printed with your business information imprinted on it. 

Purchase enough items to create sample baskets for an online catalogue.  When your business begins to take off, have color catalogues printed up that you can send to companies.  Keep a list of prospective clients to draw from when it is time to create catalogues. 

Skills needed.  Gift sellers should have a flair for the dramatic.  You are creating exciting items that make the buyer look good when they are given.  Great customer service is important when dealing with gifts.  Phoning the client after the gifts are received to make sure that everything was in order is better than a comment card.  You can include comment cards with the orders so you have a record of the positive or negative feedback. 

Marketing.  Advertise in newspapers and online advertising spots.  As soon as you can, create those color catalogues and mail them out to businesses in the area.  Ads in business magazines can get you noticed since these magazines end up in waiting rooms, on executive desks, in hotel lobbies, and on airplanes.  Any number of people may see your ad.

Selling your services as a gift consultant online will lead back to your website and your primary business of selling corporate gifts.  Don’t neglect word of mouth advertising.  If friends want ideas of what to give their bosses, let them choose from your gift selection.  Make sure that your business sticker is on the basket. 

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