A Customer Cancels a Custom Order. Now What?
Tammy asks:
“A new customer asked me to add some items in her gift basket order that I didn’t have in stock. I agreed to buy it for her, but when I told her the basket was ready, she said that she found something else and didn’t need the basket. Now I have a basket with a special item that I paid for and no way to sell it. How do I handle this better next time?”
Try not to beat yourself up about this, because this situation happens more often than new designers care to admit, me included when I was new.
You feel foolish, but such mistakes helps remind you of what you won’t allow to happen in the future. That’s one reason why I wrote Creating a Private Label Program.
First, determine if you want to purchase custom products. If not, you simply won’t do it. If so, a rule of having the customer pay in advance for the product, through cash or a credit card, is one you’ll follow.
Second, account for all expenses associated with buying the custom product. That includes travel and time in addition to the item. The customer pays for all of it.
Last, recognize that it’s a blessing when customers decline the order because they won’t pay for custom products ahead of time. One look at the custom product that now sits in your inventory reminds you that it’s better to let this person look elsewhere for a gift.
Collect monies for custom products before you begin your search. That way, you’ll be paid in advance, and the customer will have a vested interest in having you finalize the order.
Selling Gift Baskets with No Foods
Anna asks:
“I want to make baskets with gifts rather than with just food. Can I make money with that?”
Absolutely. When I began my business in 1990, I started by including all gift items. The only edible product in my baskets was a handful of lollipops with my business name pre-printed on the candy.
I launched with all gifts because I wasn’t sure, at the time, if my city’s laws allowed me to store and sell pre-packaged foods from my home base.
Some of my most-popular items included:
As with food baskets, the marketing you choose to promote your all-gift baskets must be positioned to help you reach the intended audience.
That’s what I did, and my baskets sold quickly.
I constantly reminded customers that the gifts would last a lifetime. That’s what worked for me. Perhaps that same type of message will also work for you.
How to Find State Products
Cynthia asks:
“I can’t find manufacturers here in Arkansas that sell products for my baskets. I want to approach hotels and groups, and I need items that are made right here. Do companies exist in my state?”
There are 38 companies I found in Arkansas using an easy online search, selling items from cookies to non-alcoholic beverages to candles and more. All of these products create fabulous gift baskets for the market you serve.
You can decrease your search time in several ways:
1. Yahoo.com’s “U.S. States” link groups wholesalers and suppliers selling packaged products. You’ll have to drill through several screens to find the listings. If I can find them, I know you can, too.
2. Review the listings at GiftBasketWholesaleSupplies.com, or use the search page to find what you want. The same advice works at OrganicWholesaleSupplies.com if certified organic products are on your inventory list.
3. The CD, How to Find Products In and Around Your State, uncovers numerous ways to locate product sources. You can listen to the CD while traveling to clients or running errands. Look for more information about the CD on this page in the “CD” section.
You’re closer than you think to finding state manufacturers. I bet you’ll have several on your resource list by next week.
