selling contemporary giftware to garden centres/ cash and carries and florists

[sam979]

Dear Mentor,
I have started importing small quantities of contemporary giftware and have been selling out of suitcases to florists/ garden centres and cash and carries. I would like to increase my sales but don't have enough resources to hire sales people. I, also require some listings of potential customers. Can you please suggest the best way forward? I would appreciate your help.

[Statler]

Hi Sam,

It might be an idea to put together a sales catalogue / leaflet. For the moment, this could be something quite simple, eg two - four sides of paper, with black and white photos of the products, etc. You could then mail this out to all of the florists, etc in your area. Contact details can be found online (there are several business directories) or in the likes of the Yellow Pages. Coupled with a well written sales letter, on headed paper (shows a degree of professionalism), this can be a simple, yet effective marketing tool. Obviously, in the future, you could do things in colour, which will have an even greater impact, but for the time being, you just want to get your business out to as many people as possible for as little cost.

If you have access to the Be Your Own Boss section of this website, then you may find the Sales and Marketing section useful.

Good luck,

Lee