Regional Small Business Assistance

The U.S. SBA has regional offices and state small business development centers (SBDCs). By using such search engines as Google and the appropriate keywords, you can locate state-, county-, and city specific organizations that help small businesses in their respective regions by providing useful information and services. The following is a sample of available websites.

Free assistance with technical, financial, and marketing issues, including one-on-one counseling; a clearinghouse of information on wide variety of business subjects intended to help one grow or start a small business. Visit http://www.baltimorecountymd.gov/Agencies/economicdev/edd_smallbus.html

A partnership between the U.S. SBA and the University of California-Merced
Visit http://www.ccsbdc.org/

Online version of Florida’s small business resource publication
Visit http://www.floridasmallbusiness.com/

NYC’s portal for small business development and assistance
Visit http://www.nyc.gov/html/sbs/home.html

Management education to promote small business success
Visit http://www.ntsbdc.org/

A conduit to professional guidance, connecting Ohio entrepreneurs with research, financing sources, and training opportunities.
Visit http://www.odod.state.oh.us/edd/osb/sbdc/

For Free informaton on gift basket , flower or gift giving ideas please visit Genye In A Basket

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The Internet Can Make a World of Difference

The Internet remains a popular mean for small business to reach customers, especially when marketing goods and services in the U.S. GENYE IN A BASKET was created in 2004 to sell gourmet gift basket and fresh exotic flower online, reaching out to clients who want a fast, easy, and affordable way to buy gift basket for any occasion. Using the power of the internet, GENYE IN A BASKET offers customers access to more than eighty gift baskets and flowers, all at the click of a mouse.

Has the internet helped the company to execute their marketing strategy in the U.S? Paul Anthony, 27-year-old CEO and founder of the South Orange, New Jersey-based Company, says that it has. “Relationships with strong clientele and word-of-mouth referral, allowing us to have a presence in the USA.” Indeed, the company increased sales by 30-45 percent between 2005 and 2006, and the internet stands at the center of that strategy. Most of its sales come from New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, Maryland, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.

Appropriate website development can help to spur sales—for example: make it easy to buy, make a strong first impression, minimize distractions and advertising isn’t always necessary, make it personal, avoid long instructions, show off products, encourage spontaneous purchases, and allow users to collect items.

Internet-based commerce is not without its challenges. However, it deserves serious consideration because of the awesome potential it holds for small companies with aspirations.

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Gifts Are Good for Business

Customer relationship management goes beyond contacts with final customers. It also applies to small firm’s relationships with corporate and personal buyers.

Consider Paul Anthony’s, South Orange, New Jersey-based, which helps corporate and personal customers outsource their gift giving. The site execute all of a firm’s gift giving, from baby announcements to holiday perks, sending out anything from gourmet gift basket, corporate gift, spa gift, baby gift and flower.

AT GENYE IN A BASKET, profits do not set aside customer satisfaction, but rather follow it. To that end, Anthony has developed in-house CRM software with several capabilities.

Features such as online registration form that allows users to save time and experience a quick check out process. The option to contact by email or telephone. The company’s computer system also alert operators when a customer inserts a wrong zip code. Last and not least, GENYE IN A BASKET personally confirms the delivery of each order.

In a society where time is precious, clicking a mouse to send a get well gift or thank you gift is appealing, when the alternative is skipping lunch to fight crowds at the mall and waiting in line at the post office. Creating satisfied customers helped GENYE IN A BASKET to attain $1.5 million in sales revenue in 2004.

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Genye In A Basket ten tips for starting and maintaining a successful Website:

1. Decide on your Web site's goals before setting it up. Do you want to just get clients to call you, or do you want clients to be able to shop and order on-line?

2. Hire an affordable Webmaster if you don't have the expertise or time to set up and maintain a quality site. But remember that you, not the Webmaster, are responsible for deciding the content and style of your website. You must stay in frequency contact with your webmaster to make changes, corrections, and additions.

3. Make your site colorful, but not too busy; avoid more than two font styles per page.

4. Provide large, sharp photos of your products, with descriptions and prices of each design.

5. Use flashing and movement very sparingly--it takes away from professional atmosphere you want to create.

6. Inspire confidence on your site by posting your background, training, and experience in the gift industry. You want to be seen as an expert.

7. Make it easy for clients to navigate your site.

8. Make your ordering process as simple as possible. If your site does not have a secure order page, clients should still be able to call to place the order.

9. Give your clients a reason to return to your site other than just to buy. For example, offer a monthly contest or provide gift tips.

10. Visit your competitor's sites and sites in noncompeting industries to see what additional ideas you should consider implementing without blatant copying.
For more information or to view a sample of a successful website please visit http://www.genyeinabasket.com/

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Entrepreneurs need to dream BIG dreams-to see opportunities where others see only failures

Did you know that Benjamin Franklin was admonished to stop experimenting with electricity? It’s true! Trying to improve on the reliable and perfectly functional oil lamp was considered an absurd waste of time! And Ford first attempt to produce a vehicle without a reverse gear, Ford knew he could make it happen-and, of course, he did. People like Franklin and Ford dreamed big dreams and dared to do great things, and now we all benefits from their achievement.

We hope that you will receive inspiration from the interesting story of entrepreneurial success that follow. Perhaps you too, will soon be part of a success story—one to be written in the days ahead!

Genye In A Basket. You’ve probably heard the phrase “Where every wish is granted with a gift basket.” Sometimes, a gift basket is only one wish away. Paul and NaTasha Anthony are the Founder and CEO of Genye In A Basket (http://www.genyeinabasket.com/ ). What started out making baskets as a hobby and it soon evolved into a promising business venture. Paul and NaTasha started out making baskets for loved ones free of charge. They used their own money to produce the products for the gift baskets. Eventually, family and friends soon became very interested in actually purchasing there gift baskets. After a while, they had built a clientele base that eventually branched out to several cities by word of mouth. Next they started visualizing the possibility of having more than just a home-based business, but perhaps a virtual store front.

The company began selling gift baskets through retail stores in 2004. Three years later, Genye In A Basket launched its own site on the web. The first day the website was available we received 100 orders; the second day, 175; and on the third day, 356.

Genye In A Basket represents an entrepreneurial venture that is unique in many ways. The owners started out by provided free gift baskets to love ones, families and friends.
Of even greater significance, perhaps, is the spotlight that this startup focuses on the social value of entrepreneurship-providing products that make life better for thousands of customers. In the process, Genye In A Basket became a successful business with great growth potential.

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Broker Learns How to Increase Sales and Support

Suzie Scott quit. Once she saw the sales numbers, Scott knew it was time to stop ordering gift certificates as employee rewards and be­gan looking for a better gift to increase productivity.

As vice president of sales for Mort Rickey, the nation's leading real estate broker, Scott realized that her staff needed more motivation to close sales that slipped away each month. After all, the real estate market was booming.

Each sales manager is responsible for over $10 million in assets. To stay ahead of upstart firms looking to slice into Mort Rickey's pie, Scott searched for alternative ways to get her managers thinking out of the box.

"When I received a gift basket from Genye In A Basket, I knew her baskets were the answer," said Scott. She called a staff meeting and laid out plans for a new sales campaign.
First, she'd have each manager visit past customers to renew old relationships. Next, every region would be checked for unique pur­chasing opportunities and methods to sell new acquisitions to cur­rent clients. Last, each sales manager would receive a basket of corporate gifts and personal items based on their sales performance and productivity.

"It's a win-win proposal for the entire force." said Scott, who or­dered 1,000 gift baskets last month to distribute to the entire team. Ready to challenge your staff and boost productivity? Call us today or visit http://www.genyeinabasket.com/

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