Hi Everyone!

Welcome to the fourth issue of the Basket Biz Cafe Newsletter! I'm so glad to have you as a member of our newsletter readers. Just a note here, if you see crazy characters in the text, it's to help this newsletter get through the spam filters to reach your inbox instead of your junk mail box, I really do know how to spell! The word S~A~L~E is especially vulnerable.

What's In This Issue

1. Editor's Note: Monthly S@le, Mother's Day & Volleyball
2. Feature Articles: Perceived Value by Sandee Overstreet
3. Gift Basket Idea of the Month: Not Really A Gift Basket but A Great Add-On
4. Business Tip of the Month: Messageboards ~ An Absolutely WONDERFUL Resource BUT Please Consider Before Posting
5. New Inventory, Sa~le Items & Upcoming Items - New S*ale Items~! New Items Were Posted Today! See Right Column For Details=>
6. Upcoming Events - Right Column =>
7. GBWS Sponsors - Right Column =>

Editor's Note

Well, I hope everyone's Valentine's Day sales were "over the top"! And if they weren't, then I hope you learned from the experience. Be sure to write down how things went and your interpretation of why things happened the way they did. Then file it away for next year, it will be an invaluable assessment to help you through next year's Valentine's Day season.

Now we're on to Mother's Day (yes, I know Easter is first, but it pales in comparison to Mother's Day when it comes to sales). I've read that Mother's Day is the biggest gift basket sales holiday next to Christmas and I believe it. I mean, who wants to give their mother a bouquet of flowers any more when they can give her a gift basket that includes wonderful gift items and has a great presentation? And what mother wouldn't prefer to get a gift basket? So, be sure to take advantage of this great holiday, get your marketing in gear NOW. Decide what kind of campaign you're going to run and get started right away. I know Mother's Day is over two month's away but remember, people have to see your advertising as many a seven (yes, that's 7) times before they take notice. Plus, you need time to get your stuff in stock, do so before all the good stuff is gone!

I know, I know, you're wondering WHAT'S ON SALE, SHOW ME THE SALE! Well, here's a link to this month's sale items. The sale will run through Sunday, March 13 and only while supplies last, so click on over to get the best prices.

S@LE! S@LE! S@LE! ~ CL|CK HE~RE!

Also, be sure to check out our new items. I just got them posted so you'll be the first to see them. There are some wonderful new pamper items, including a huge 10" loofah, insense in a glass vial (really pretty & unique), a really BIG pink mesh sponge (it cost more than the other mesh sponge we carry but it's twice the size) and a couple of great Mother's Day balloons. We also got some new baby items, be sure to check out our New Arrivals category.

Last month I mentioned that I planned to add a newsletter archive section, well, I JUST got it done but it's up. When you click to the following link, you will find a list of all the past newsletters, you just have to click on the one you want to read. The current issue will always be at the top. Here's the link, be sure to put it in your favorites as you won't find it anywhere on the website, it's only for those who are subscribed to our newsletter. I will however, put the link in all future newsletters for your reference. Okay, here it is:

http://www.giftbasketwholesalesupply.com/newsletter

Also, don't forget to read our blog. I didn't post as much as I would have liked last month but I did get the new items posted. I promise to try to do better next month. Here's the link:

http://www.giftbasketwholesalesupply.com/blog

And, what else is going on in my life? Last month I talked about how volleyball TOTALLY runs life in our household and I bragged a bit about my daughter's club team. Well, February was a great month for the team. They went to the first stop of a VERY competitive 3-stop tournament called Tour of Texas, they had to qualify to get in and only the best of the Texas teams are in it ~ well, our girls WON!! It was great for them, it totally built up their confidence and they had tons of fun as well. It also got them ranked as # 1 in Texas and # 8 nationally!

Next we were off to Vegas for the first tournament of the year where college coaches could watch the girls (NCAA rules prohibit evaluation until after Feb 18) and since the 17s year is the year the top kids get their offers for scholarships, it was an awesome experience for both the girls and their parents. The tournament website listed 295 colleges in attendence, most had two representatives at the tournament. Our girls took the court for their first match in Vegas at about 3:00 p.m. on Saturday, there were about 30 college coaches waiting to watch them play! Yes, they were really nervous, we could tell by the way they played, but they won the match. It was like that all weekend, coaches everywhere! They finally settled down and got used to the coaches watching.

It was a very exciting tournament, there were 140 17s teams and 256 18s teams from all over the U.S. The 17s teams are limited because they want to showcase the 18s teams and get exposure for the seniors who are uncommitted. Anyway, our girls placed 3rd in the 17s division!! But what was even more exciting was that five of the top eight teams, and ALL FOUR of the FINAL FOUR teams were from TEXAS!! We were so proud of our Texas volleyball players! It was an awesome experience.

Last Satuday the girls played in the second stop of the Texas Tour, it was great because it was held here in Houston, they were still worn out from the Vegas trip and playing at home was great. Anyway, this stop featured only pool play, that's where the teams are placed in pools of four teams and play each team in their pool. The results are used to seed the last stop which is a bracket. Our team was in the top pool and won every match without even losing a game (they play 3 out of 5 game matches). So, the next and final tour stop is in April, we are the top seed in the Gold Bracket. If we win the first round we will play the team that beat us in Vegas (in the semi's). It will be the semi-finals in this tourny as well. We're all looking forward to a great re-match and girls plan to win this time and take it all.

And one last thing I thought I'd mention. Regarding the college coaches and the scholarship offers, well, so far, of the eleven girls on Brit's team, two have offers, they just haven't accepted yet. I'll keep you updated as to the progress of the team as well as how many have offers and how many have accepted. Once they accept, I'll tell you where they're going and who made offers. The more people we have rooting for the girls, the more the universe will give them. Heaven knows, they've worked hard for it!

So, that's it for my part of the newsletter for this issue, hope you enjoy the rest. As I told you last month, I'm going to keep the format the same each month so you'll be able to read it and find what you want quickly. If you would like to contribute a gift basket idea or article, by all means, please do, just email me. And don't forget to send me your feedback as well. So, I can keep your letters out of my spam filter, use the following email address - editor@giftbasketwholesalesupply.com

Featured Articles

Have you evaluated your business presence to increase its perceived value?

In the gift basket industry, we all pretty much understand the concept of “perceived value” when it applies to our designs. Color coordinating items, large, inexpensive products, imprinted ribbon, beautiful florals, attractive enhancements, ‘tall’ designs, cello fans, gorgeous bows, unusual containers, printed cello wrap and more can all increase the apparent value of the design without draining our budgets. Who hasn’t reevaluated a design, adding this, removing that, trying to get our $25.00 worth of material and products to look like a $75.00 or more gift basket?

What is your business presence and how do you increase its perceived value?

Your business presence is the impression current and potential clients receive through your communication materials, by meeting you in person and your customer service practices. Your communication materials include everything in print pertaining to your company and the Internet components of your business such as your web site, e-mail and electronic newsletters.

Many times your first business presence observed by clients is your communication materials. How many times have you read of the importance of having professional looking materials, both printed and on the Internet?

You’ve probably put in a lot of work on brochures, catalogs, flyers, business cards and web sites to make sure they do look great, only to have red flags all over them, waving at clients.

What are those red flags and why do clients even notice them? Those red flags are misspelled words, poor grammar, incorrect punctuation and words used wrongly. Clients do notice the red flags and the red flags will tell them that you aren’t paying attention to the details. It will raise the question in their minds that you may not pay enough attention to their details. This is your business presence perceived value.

How do you increase your business perceived value? You need to take the time to make sure your communication materials are error free. Have you looked over everything so many times your eyes are blurring and that a headache has started? Maybe you aren’t aware that you’ve been using incorrect punctuation.

Try some of these techniques and ideas:

• Walk away from the project. Often coming back to it a few hours later or even a day or two will give you a fresh perspective.
• Ask someone to review your materials. Having a second pair of eyes looking at your material can be beneficial.
• Don’t depend on Spell Check to catch all misspellings. Online dictionaries are available, plus the old standby, Webster’s.
• Try using a thesaurus, either online or in print form. You may find different and better words to use.
• Bone up on your grammar. There are plenty of web sites that have excellent tutorials.
• Proper punctuation is important. Again, there are many web sites that address this issue. Some sites are from educational institutes.
• Make sure you are using the correct word and not a homonym. Some common homonyms are: affect-effect, your-you’re, there-their-they’re, ware-wear-where, and we’re-were.
• Pay special attention when reading articles online, in a magazine or a newspaper. Observe how those authors utilize correct grammar, spelling and punctuation.

You can increase the perceived value of your business presence by taking the time to educate yourself and paying attention to your details.

About the Author:
Sandee Overstreet, located in Central, owns SGB Enterprises, offering professional writing services, making sure Your Message Doesn’t Lose Its Flavor! Sandee offers a free, no strings attached evaluation of your communication materials. Visit her website “SGB Enterprises” http://www.SGBBusinessServices.com for more details.

Sandee also owns and operates a successful gift basket company, Sandee’s Gift Baskets, specializing in corporate gifting programs. http://www.SandeesGiftBaskets.com

Gift Basket Idea of the Month

This month we are featuring a "Baby Sock" Corsage. It's a great add-on or up-sell item for your baby gift baskets.

I first saw these on the internet when I was researching how to make baby diaper cakes and wreaths. I thought they were really cute, and then when I saw that one of my suppliers had baby socks, well, I just had to give it a try.

Before I decided to feature a "Baby Sock" Corsage in the newsletter I had to figure out why my customers would want to know how to make them. It didn't take long before I realized that it would be a great up-sell item. Since they aren't very expensive, a lot of people would probably love to give one along with the gift basket if they are attending a shower. Another way you could use it would be to add ribbon to the back and make it the center of your bow! Talk about unique!

Anyway, I found tons of instructionals when I did a search on Google. However, not very many were good. They made it sound a lot simpler than it really is, not to say it's hard, it's just a little hard to make your first one.

Most the instructionals said to start with the thin nylon baby socks. The socks I used were nylon but they weren't the really thin ones and they worked just fine. I just think it would be hard to use the thick cotton socks. Also, there are two "looks" you can achieve, by using lace-edged socks, you can get a frilly, more flowery look. If you use socks without lace, your flowers will look like rosebuds. Your choice, personally, I like the lacey edges.

You use one sock for each flower, if you want, you can use two pairs of socks and have four flowers. I used two in my examples.

You make each sock flower separately, then you tape them together. You will need:

• a pair of baby socks
• green floral tape
• floral wire
• silk greenery
• ribbon that coordinates with your socks and/or the gender of the baby

Take one sock and roll it from the toe to the opening at the top where the lace is stitched on. Then turn the top laced edge over the rolled part of the sock. The middle or the rolled part of the sock will look like the middle of the flower and the lace edges will look like the petals. Arrange the laced edge so it's high in the back and low in the front, this will give your finished corsage somewhat of a backing of lace.

Grab the section under the lace and hold it in a tight ball, this is the part that will be taped to form the sepal or bulb and stalk of the flower. Use green florist tape to wrap this part of the sock. When using florist tape, tear off about 15" or so (not exact) and pull the tape, this will stretch the tape a little and release the sticky gum.

Before you finish wrapping the bulb, stick a piece of wire in the bottom of the bulb and then continue wrapping the tape down the sock and onto the wire. Wrap the entire length of the wire. You may have to wrap a lot of tape around the very top of the wire where it is stuck into the sock to create a smooth transition from the sock to the wire. This is okay as it will also hold the wire in place. I used a wire that was about 5" long, you can go longer and then cut it if you want.

Make two flowers.

Next you place the two flowers side-by-side. Put some silk greenery on the backside of the flowers so you can see it over the top and around the sides of the flowers creating a greenery backing. Then tape the greenery and the two flowers together with florist tape. Cut the stem to the length you want before taping and then tape all the way down the stem to get a smooth finished look.

Last, make a small bow. I used # 5 ( 7/8" ) ribbon, you can use smaller if you want or you can just tie curling ribbon around the bulb. I used two colors ribbon and secured the bow itself with wire that I then used to fasten the bow to the flowers. Lastly I taped over the wire and added a corsage pin.

Now, there were a couple of things I learned that I want to share here.

• First, I used socks that had a little flower on the sides under the lace. It was really cute but just got in the way when I was making the corsage. I hid it in the back of the flower but I think if I were going to sell these corsages, I would NOT buy socks that had the little applique.
• Second, the first one is very hard to make. The rolled part of the sock kept coming apart when I was trying to do the taping. It finally worked when I wired the rolled part together by sticking the wire through the sock roll and looping it back around and twisting the wire to itself. I then wrapped the top edge of the sock over the rolled part and stuck the long end of the wire through the bottom of the flower. I never found instructions that said to do this, but it held the middle section in place for me while I was taping. It definately took some practice, don't give up if you can't do it the first time.
• The wire will not hurt the sock, it just sticks through the holes in the fabric. Just be sure to get a wire that's not too thick.
• Lastly, add silk baby's breath or wired pearls if you like.

Business Tip of the Month

I hope all of you reading this newsletter have taken a look at our Gift Basket Resource Page and checked out the gift basket messageboards that are available. If not, you need to do so just as soon as you finish reading this newsletter (don't go there now, finish reading FIRST). Here's a link to our resource page:

http://www.giftbasketwholesalesupply.com/gift-basket-business-resources.htm

I have read these messageboards for years, and actually, some of the same people who were posting years ago, are still around and still in the gift basket business. And that's a good sign, it shows longevity in the industry. It also shows that the people who "know what they're doing" are willing to share their knowledge. It's great for new gift basket companies because they have a ready resource with tons of info and if they can't find an answer to their problem, then they can ask.

I do, however, want to cover a few things with those of you who are new to messageboards. Quite often I see new people join the board and then get flamed because they didn't follow proper protocol. I don't want to scare you, please don't take it like that, it's just that sometimes a new person will come along and jump right in without even reading through the current threads. It's obvious they don't know what's going on and haven't taken the time to do any reading. This is very annoying, not to mention, disrespectful, to the regulars on the board who take precious time out of their day to post valuable info. Typing an informed answer to someone's question does take a lot of time and if the question as answered two threads down, do you really think they want to answer it again?

There are a few things you MUST do before you decide to post. Here's a short list to get you started. In addition, just pretend as if you were already part of the community and how you would want to be treated. If you just do those things, you will be welcomed with open arms.

• Read through the threads that were started within the last month. Don't consider posting anything until you've at least done that.
• If you have a specific question, find the search feature and use it. More than likely you will find the answer to your question. If your question involves trends or a timely issue, consider what you found in the archives, learn from it, and then reframe your question so you get answers that are more current.
• NEVER, NEVER, NEVER advertise unless the section of the board you are posting in is specifically for advertising. Do consider though that if you're selling gift baskets, advertising your gift baskets to people who sell gift baskets, would be a major waste of time. If you sell gift basket supplies (like me), there is probably a section of the board reserved specifically for you.
• Using a sig line with your name is normally okay, however, it's best to check the rules for posting before using one.
• Always remember, it's better to say nothing than to say something mean.
• And along those lines, if someone says something mean about you and you feel you must defend yourself, do not do so immediately. Write what you want to say and wait until the next day to read it. Sugar is always better than vinegar. Your customers may happen across the messageboard and you wouldn't want your company name immortalized by something you said in a tiff. Actually, you might find it would be petty to even respond, be the bigger person.

I found a really great video that brings home the message about how to post on a messageboard. It was made for the messageboard that's on the site where the video resides ~ I don't have a clue what the topic of that board is, but the video is really funny. I do want to warn you however, there are a few bad words in it, so if you are offended by foul language, please, please, do not watch. But if you want a good laugh while learning about messageboard posting, click on over. Here's the link:

http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/posting.php

Until next month....

Want to Interview or Contribute?

If you would like to be considered to be interviewed for an article to be published in this newsletter, please email me at the following link: "Editor" We will consider gift basket companies and other vendors who supply the industry as long as they don't compete with our product offerings.

Also, if you would like to contribute an article, I will consider any article that would be helpful to our industry and I will include an "Author's Info" box and link to your website. Just email me at the following link: "Editor" .

We do not pay for articles or interviews and we reserve the right to only publish those we choose to use and think are appropriate for our audience.

Until Next Time

Thanks for joining in reading this great information. I'm hopeful that you learned a lot. So, I'll be talking with you next month, until then,

Good Luck, God Bless and Happy Gift Basketeering!

Reba Collins
Gift Basket Wholesale Supply
www.giftbasketwholesalesupply.com