Toll Free Numbers NOW Available at GBA!

Toll Free Phone Numbers NOW Available through Gift Basket Association

Whether you already have one or are interested in checking the pricing on a toll free number, GBA can help! We've partnered with a leading providing to give our industry deep discounts. Check out the GBA Coupon book for a discount on the set up charge and show your customers you care about their incoming call.

Welcome a New GBA Member!

Welcome to a New GBA Member!

Amazing Grazing

Amazing Grazing, Inc. brings great nostalgic snack items to a brand new level! We have researched the best companies in America, most over 100 years old! Items like America's Original Popcorn Ball, the first Candy Taffy Kisses, Red Licorice Bites, and a truly "Amazing" Butter Toffee Crunch. We have items that we've all loved like, White Birch Beer and Red Cream Soda! Amazing Grazing brings back all the "Good" in the Good Old Times! Visit them online here.

Marketing Plans are Critical!

Marketing Plans are Critical!

I often say that if you only have the time, energy or money to do one plan - make sure its a marketing plan. You can create the greatest products but if you don't market them consistently, it's doubtful you'll really make your sales goals. Your marketing plan should speak the type of marketing you're going to do and when.

My recommendation - make yourself a calendar starting on August 1st all the day to the end of the year.

Pick a day of the week that you're going to do your marketing via social networking. Show new products, put products on sale, have contests - anything to get people to your website.

Pick one or two days a month you're going to send our an email newsletter. Your newsletter should be brief, inviting and offer helpful gift giving tips. Show new designs and suggest how they might be able to "give it". No long paragraphs - short and too the point.

If you're up for a challenge, find NetMax in my book Avance and start doing it NOW. Don't wait.

Happy Selling!
Debbie

We're busy at GBA!

We're gearing up for the holidays to make sure you have everything you need to have a very successful fourth quarter and beyond.

We've added new services, have the annual coupon book ready for you and our advertising campaign is out and working!

If you're not sure how to prepare for the holiday and need some support, Debbie Quintana offers consulting services. Debbie has a three part program to help you bounce into success...

1. Review your business strategy and existing website and make recommendations for improvement including product.

2. Review your marketing strategy (or help you create one) that includes social networking, local networking and advertising.

3. Train you on how to monitor for results and set the stage to take your business to the next level.

This is an individual 1-1 consulting program which includes three sessions. Price is normally $425, now for 30% off for $297. You can reserve one of the 20 spots by emailing us and asking to book Debbie's Gift Basket Business Bounce.

The 2011 Coupon Book is Now Available!

It's here and ready for you to download. Meet new vendors, get some great discounts and savings!

www.giftbasketassociation.com

Preparing for the 2011 Holiday Season

There is a lot going on at The Gift Basket Association! As we prepare for the upcoming holidays, gift basket professionals are leaning on us for advice, guidance and mentoring on how to approach this holiday season.

In addition to GBA Founder, Debbie Quintana offering complimentary 30 minute consultations to all Gift Basket Association members, a new advertising campaign has been launched to attract potential customers to FindYourGiftBasket.com.

FYGB.com is the customer facing directory where our members are listed. The gift basket company listing includes photo albums, contact information, hyperlinks to websites, blogs and social network and the company logo.

If you think your processes and how you run your company is going to work for all of your customers - think again.

If you're a company that only has an online presence and doesn't interface with your customers, skip this article. I'm not saying you're doing anything wrong, just saying that I'm going to go a different route for a second and it won't be of value to you.

So you have your website, your ordering process, the process by which you assemble and ship and hopefully, you even have a follow up process to make sure everyone is happy. But, what if that doesn't work for your customers? Maybe your customer doesn't want to order off the website. Maybe your customer likes what you have but its not exactly what they want? What if your customer is using their iPod?

Studying and thinking about how your customers want to work doesn't mean you have to throw out your processes or accommodate every customer type there is but I am suggesting you think about how your customers in different age ranges, different occupations and different styles - maybe want to work. Just a thought.

...and yes, I'm teasing :) The full article is in the magazine. It's worth reading.

Debbie Q.
and just to prove I'm not mean, there is a free article on the website that you might find thought provoking.