|
Author: Rena Klingenberg Article source: http://www.barbarabrabec.com/. Used with author's permission.
Offering gift certificates is an excellent way of increasing sales by solving your customers' gift-giving problems. Often people would like to give your products as gifts, but are hesitant to choose a specific item for someone.
I'm a jewelry artist, and when I realized I was losing sales to these potential customers, I started offering gift certificates - and discovered a wonderful sales tool.
Wherever you sell your products - at retail locations, shows, home parties - be sure to have an eye-catching sign advertising "Gift Certificates Available in Any Amount". And tell undecided customers about it verbally, too, emphasizing the benefits of a gift certificate, and how much their recipient will enjoy choosing the exact item they want.
How to Make Your Own Gift Certificates
Use your computer and printer to make special, fancy certificates using perforated paper or postcard stock you can find in office supply stores, and have matching fancy envelopes to go with them. They don't need to cost you very much, but they should really look like a special, festive gift to give them extra appeal!
Consider adding enticing photos of some of your most popular products. My gift certificates have a neat vertical border of jewelry photos on each side.
Here's the information your gift certificates should have on them:
- your business name and location, plus other contact info
- a "To:" line
- a "From:" line
- an "Amount:" line (for the dollar amount)
- "custom orders welcome", if applicable
- the expiration date, if you want to limit the time period the certificate can be used
- the certificate's unique number - on your computer or by hand, print a unique number (101, 102, 103, etc., or whatever numbering works for you) on each certificate's bottom corner, so each can be individually accounted for.
When you sell the certificate, you should write the dollar amount and expiration date (if any) on the certificate yourself, and then have the person purchasing the certificate fill out the To and From lines, so it will be in their own handwriting for the recipient to see. Then enter the certificate's information in your log.
How to Keep a Gift Certificate Log
It's important to keep a log of each gift certificate you sell. Keeping a record of each certificate sold will ensure that you don't wind up honoring a counterfeit certificate, or one with a changed dollar amount when someone comes to use it. My log has 6 columns, and for each certificate I sell, I record in my log:
- the certificate's unique number
- the purchaser's name
- the recipient's name
- the date sold
- the dollar amount of the certificate
- the date redeemed
- optional seventh column: expiration date.
I keep my log sheet and a stack of ready-to-sell certificates together in a two-pocket folder, along with a fancy pen for filling out the gift certificates in style when they're sold.
Use Gift Certificates to Their Fullest Profit Potential
Gift certificates can be a great source of back-end sales. When the recipient comes to redeem the gift certificate, it's easy to sell her an add-on item or two. Often she is already predisposed to splurge on something to go with the item she's getting for free with her gift certificate, and needs only a little encouragement from you to purchase extras. For example, in my case, the recipient will often purchase matching earrings to go with the bracelet she gets for free with her gift certificate. So be sure to show enticing things to the recipient that could accompany the item she chooses for her gift!
Use a gift certificate sale as an opportunity to add two new customers to your mailing list: the person who purchased the certificate, and the person who received it. Obtain permission from each to add them to your mailing list. Both of them are now pre-sold on your products, your service, and especially on your solutions to their gift-giving problems. There's a good chance they will respond favorably when they receive a special offer from you before gift-giving holidays. About The Author
Jewelry artist Rena Klingenberg is the publisher of http://www.home-jewelry-business-success-tips.com , a free online resource of articles and tips to help jewelry artists achieve their goals.
Top 5 RC Car Accessories
The realism of RC cars today is due in part to the extras available in the hobby grade vehicles. To help you decide what you need, this article will familiarize...
Taking Advantage of Googles Sandbox Effect
Learn about the peculiar phenomenon known as the " Google sandbox effect," and how you can take advantage of it.
3 Ways to Gain and KEEP Customers Using Postcards
In today's competitive market place, savvy business executives must always be looking for cost effective ways to gain and keep customers. Here are three practi...
Hypnosis - Not Quite Utopia
There are many misperceptions surrounding hypnosis - this one is possibly the worst.
Pain Relief Drugs 101 What You Need to Know
Ever given a piece of thought to how actually one feels that a part of his/her body is paining? Majority of the response to this question will be in the negativ...
How To Get Repeat Visitors To Your Site
When you have a website online it is important for you to try and get new visitors to your site, but it's also important to take care of the visitors that you a...
Mindfulness and Music: Things That Go Hmmm
You don't have to be a musician in order to develop your musical intelligence. Here's a simple and enjoyable way to spark your "music smarts"...
Credit Suicide
Few things influence the home buying process more than your credit. I like how Clark Howard refers to the three credit repositories as, "the three screw-ups". T...
Employ Passive Solar Energy and Start Saving Electricity Today
Here are 7 basic fundamentals that will cost you nothing or very little and save you cash for many years to come!
Focus On What Is Important – Your Wedding Disc Jockey Choice
Trying to plan a wedding can be overwhelming. Staying focused on the important factors and realing what will be remembered and what will not is a hard task. W...
The Hazards Of Your First Credit Card
Credit cards are almost as easy to get as your fruit and vegetables from the supermarket. For those who have not yet had a credit card, how can they prepare the...
Funniest Pond Stories-Part 1, May 2004
Get ready for some gut-wrenching, laugh out loud hilarious pond
stories from all over the world...
The Five Step Formula For Getting Prospects to Call You
No matter what product or service you sell, there is a formula for getting people to call you (instead of the other way around.) This article will explain each ...
Here Comes the Bride
A wedding is a big event for the bride to be. She imagines it
to be a day of perfection, a day of beauty and most of all, a
glorious time when she will come t...
Decorating with Authentic Zebra Decor
We all take a certain pride in the interior of our homes. We all
try to create a beautiful extention of our personalities.
MLM Success Training- How to Find High Probability MLM Prospects
How do you find the RIGHT ONES in network marketing? Read on!
The Women At The Cross (Reflections On The Death And Resurrection Of Jesus)
The women at the cross. Have you ever thought about them?
Anniversary Blues
Jamie and Kurt are a sweet, successful couple in their early thirties. In spite of loving each other deeply, they often find themselves in conflict over seeming...
Wedding Reception Music - Top Tips on Making Your Evening Wedding Party Unforgettable
Essential information on how to use live music to create a sensational evening wedding reception party.
How Can Real Estate Investors Profit From The Internet?
The only three ways the Internet is effective for real estate investors.
Free High Quality Traffic - Just Press Submit
Imagine getting free, high quality targeted traffic to your website. How much would that be worth to you? What if you could get it for free?! Sound too good to ...
Setting Up Your Work-From-Home Internet Business: When Are You Ready to Start?
We've all heard the quotation: "Life is not a rehearsal." Well, the same might be said of setting up your work-from-home Internet business. You can spend the r...
Learning Superior Customer Service Skills
Is customer service an empty shell, long on rhetoric but short on delivery? Does the term customer service actually mean anything, or is it a leftover expressio...
Three Ways to Make a Woman feel Special – III
Know the three more ways
|
Print this page