Key to a Successful Business

A head of a corporation in the Colorado area provided an meeting to a friend's son, a graduate business student, who was planning his thesis. The young man asked questions about marketing, budgeting, and the most beneficial market methods. The dialogue and questions also including corporate and business hurdles and challenges, protecting assets and the problems and practices in increasing sales. The CEO confessed that managing a firm's long-term reserves had always been at the heart of his energy and determining stakeholders was instrumental. Weighing possibilities in every aspect was his response to the question about best decision-making practice. The 60 minute interview was almost over when the graduate asked his last question about what was the biggest liability and what was the greatest asset in the company. After blundering through a list of financial jargon, the CEO stopped abruptly and thought carefully before saying that all of that was secondary because the employees could be the greatest asset or they could be the greatest liability. The men and women working for you can make or break the company. Simple as that. The CEO then took our friend's son out to lunch and they continued to dialogue. The conversation included examples from the CEO's working experience when he worked at a restaurant through college and when he managed various establishments. He had many examples of how good workers actually made the company money and the managers and owners did not always know it or recognize it. At the same time, a rude or incompetent or an employee with a bad attitude could ruin not only the sale at the time, but later. They chatted about the television show Undercover Bosses where CEOs make as if to be new employees on the ground level for a week to actually get some in field experience and insight. The CEO admitted that he had thought of doing that. The two of them throughout lunch talked about different episodes and came to the summation that employees do make or break a company. And usually what they want most even more than money or raises is to be treated respectfully and to have their efforts acknowledged. They want a thank you of some kind whether it be just a sincere thanks, a gift card, money, a promotion of a gift. The graduate revealed that his mom who had been an administrative assistant had just resign her job the week before saying she had just had enough. Her boss not only did not see what she had accomplished but did not seem to care about rewarding anyone. When she recommended he give gift cards he said that was fine but she would have to give them and write the note and he put her on a small budget. After a year she suggested they give time off to employees but he refused saying. She observed morale was extremely low and he did agree and she was to come up with something. She told him to come into the next morning meeting, which employees hated, with food. He told her to get some cheap donuts from the supermarket. She started just standing up to him and said no, he needed to spend some bucks and get quality pastries or food and quality coffee boxes from the Panera Bread down the street. He assigned her to do it and to be sure it was there on time. It did the trick and employees liked it. She needed a unique idea for the mid afternoon meetings. So when she saw the huge basket delivered next door with all kinds of treats for employees she was impressed and contacted the basket company, Baskets by Rita. For the same money they put together a big basket with goodies to put in the break room for everyone to enjoy. It was huge and they delivered it to her that day. The boss walked in with Ultimate Gourmet Gift Basket and there were cheers from the once tired employees. The student made an appointment the next day with his adviser to change his thesis topic to center on the importance of gratitude and recognition for employees contending that they are the most valuable long term investment.

Start off right, make a good impression!

Making a good first impression is at the heart of leadership and profession skill musts. Whether you are applying for a job or managing a assignment it is a strategy tool that ranks among the most valuable. You want to get off to a perfect start. One article suggests that within 3 seconds someone analyzes you by your appearance, your body language, you mannerisms, and the way you present yourself. We make impressions by our actions, what we say and by what others say about us. To make a great impression you must know what was said about you or how you are viewed. If it is beneficial you come with a good standing. If it was not you have a ability to change that impression. How you present yourself IS the impression. That first impression must be strong enough to show confidence to establish confidence. However over-confidence can destroy trust. It is a fine line. Polite, attentive, on-time, positive, appropriateness and sincerity go a long ways. Fortunately you do not have to sign up for a seminar or school, but simply google making a excellent impression to find numerous sites with free and priceless information. The difficulty lies in finding out what others have said about you and what information they already know. That means investigating. So that takes care of the first impression. The key is keeping a nice impression. Once that you have landed that deal or sold that house or secured that client your impression skills are not locked in. You must expand that impression that they made the appropriate choice and that you truly understand them. You do that in your text with a letter or note or a phone call. You do it in your conduct with making face to face timely visits when possible. And you are sure to spend a few bucks to maintain that impression. It might be with food or gifts, and not just holiday anticipated gifts. When you first land the sale follow up with something. My neighbor is a real estate broker and used to send a restaurant gift card to her clients after the closing. He now walks into the closing with an impressive and festive gift basket from Baskets by Rita. He already knows the client, so whether it's a beer tub, wine welcome gift basket, gourmet gift basket he pays the money for it to be a wow factor and make the significant impression as he walks through the door. He said the day he came into the room with a baby gift basket for the couple about to become parents they were so excited. Lasting impressions have benefits and he says that the wow factor and the oohs and aahhhs he gets from them carry through. As they thank him as they are leaving, he mentions he would appreciate any referrals they would send his way. When they refer, he has another gift basket sent to their house. He claims this impression has definitely increased his client list. So good impressions are crucial.

Football Beer Gift Tubs for my boyfriend!

So how is your favorite team doing this season? It is football season again and for those of us who love football we live for this time of year. Not only is it gorgeous weather to go to games but we covet the fact it has been a prolonged dry season in the sporting world since Superbowl time last year. Hopefully each of us is looking at the teams, playing fantasy football and making predictions. For guys it provides a piece of interaction for any place we find ourselves. There is also the unknown and best hopes for our popular football team to do well this season. Everybody seems to be talking about the replacement refs and how soon will normal football refs be back on the fields. It is way too effortless to get so annoyed about it that you find yourself ranting and raving. That is what has been happening at my house. I whine and moan and groan and am short tempered with my wife and she does not warrant that. She is such a smart football wife that to get mad is not the manner she handles things. She astonishingly uses good will and humor. I am so fortunate. After this weekend and my terrible mood I did not merit to get anything for my birthday yesterday. I was in Denver and she had a beer and nut gift from Baskets by Rita delivered to my hotel. Since one of my favorite teams was the Denver Broncos the tub she ordered was a Bronco one and she wrote a great message using her awesome humor to help get me level-headed. It was wonderful. I called her and made the decision to have flowers sent the next day. I often do that. So since I'm gone for a week, I called the lady at baskets by Rita and she's sending a gourmet wine basket to my wife. Good move on my part cuz my wife will not expect it. We guys are not very creative or good about gifts but I am quite darn happy and pleased with myself. My pop is a diehard Green Bay Packers fan so I sent him a sympathy basket. He will really like it and really get a kick out of it. My mother was raised and is loyal to the Giants, have been raised in NYC, so I'm having a Congratulations basket sent to her arriving the same day. Can hardly wait to speak to my parents. They are always coming up with gifts and ways to help my wife and me so this would be excellent. This ref strike has certainly got everyone talking. The good news is that it gives people something else to talk about besides politics. Our secretary really gets on all of us though and she says we should be feeling sorry for those poor replacement refs. Without them we couldn't watch any football at all.

Something unique for a birthday gift is what I am looking for.

 All my buddies know that they will get either beer, a bottle of wine or flowers I grabbed on the way to see them. It worked well for a while, but now it seems to be just too expected. Looking for a different birthday gifts can take a lot of time. Today I went looking for my best close friend which should be easy. I know exactly what he will like so it should have been very easy. I ended up just heading to a big box store and finding a gift card. They used to have small cool wooden crate type things to put the gift card in but not anymore. So that was fine but really mundane. Last Saturday my spouse was out of town and asked me to go out and get things to put in a basket for her cousin who was bringing her daughter to Colorado to start college. My wife emailed me a list of all the wares to buy for the basket so I went to find it. She puts in mostly Colorado products like sweets, potato chips, salsa, tortilla chips, peanuts, Colorado water, tea, espresso, beef jerky, cheeses, crackers, and honey sticks. First I could not find a basket in the food market and only a few of the goods. I finally threw in the towel because it was taking forever to look and be sure I had Colorado made foods. My neighbor was also shopping and I shared my irritation when she suggested just going to our business district and going into the large kitchen specialty shop and having them help me. I did that and it was helpful but I was shocked at how much it price, including the basket. They offered to help me put it all together in the basket and put on a nice big bow. It looked great and my wife was not shocked at the cost of buying the goods there. She goes to 7 or 8 different places to buy all the goods and helps save about twenty dollars. Now that is just too much effort. An simpler way is just to go online and find a gift basket shop that will do it and deliver it. My wife and I argued over the cost, so to demonstrate my point I found a number of baskets at Baskets by Rita which is a Colorado based company. They have a Colorado wooden crate that is cooler than typical baskets. Even after the delivery cost, it turned out it was less costly than us doing it ourselves. So getting back to the birthday gift idea I saw the crate and decided to order one and have it delivered to my house so I could see how it looked. It came and was wonderful. My wife and I agreed that they do a much more professional job of putting it together and it looks amazing. Plus it turned out to be less expensive than doing it ourselves. They have a great selection so that is my plan from now on when buying Beer Birthday Gift Basket. http://www.basketsbyrita.com

Baskets By Rita, a Colorado Gift Basket Company, Celebrates its 20th Anniversary

Ten years after being laid off from Agilent Technologies, Marge Van Woerkom and her business, Baskets By Rita, are still going strong. As a previous Reporter Herald article outlined, Van Woerkom was one of many Loveland residents who found themselves unemployed in 2002 when HP and Agilent downsized. After 19 years of working for HP and Agilent, Van Woerkom refused to be a victim of her situation. She pulled herself together after the lay off and bought an existing business in Aurora, Colorado. She chose not to change the company's existing name, Baskets By Rita, which already had a strong reputation in the Denver metro area and this choice has served her well. "We've built our business on the philosophy that the customer come first" says Van Woerkom.

Since Van Woerkom took ownership of the company, she has managed to grow sales despite the economic recession of the past few years. In addition, she has grown the company's clientele and web presence year over year with the help of her staff and dedicated members of her family. As a sign of its ongoing growth, Baskets By Rita began plans several months ago to create a sister company, Gift Agent. Gift Agent will offer customers a slightly more specialized product line packaged in specialty boxes which will allow the company to be more eco-friendly and create more of a recognized brand identity. The hope is that receiving a gift from Gift Agent will be comparable in recipients' minds to receiving a box of Godiva chocolates. While Gift Agent gives cause for much excitement at Baskets By Rita, that is not the only exciting news for the company.

This year, Baskets By Rita is celebrating it's 20th year of business. While many other gift basket companies have gone out of business, Van Woerkom and her staff have managed to maintain steady growth despite the public's growing need to economize. To show their gratitude for the continued support of their customers and celebrate their 20 years of success, Baskets By Rita has planned a series of sales promotions for each month of the year. These promotions include deals such as 15% off when you spend $50 or more and a gift of a free basket for the winner of a video commercial contest. For every dollar saved by their customers through these ongoing promotions, Baskets By Rita will donate a dollar to a local charity. Each month, the company will choose two local charities to support and they will match the savings of their customers to determine the donation amount. The best part of this campaign is that customers are encouraged to vote for their favorite charities so that everyone can be involved. As a local business, Baskets By Rita does its best to support local programs and Van Woerkom is excited to have an excuse to give back even more than her usual holiday charitable donations. Like us on Facebook and vote for your local charity. When doing so we will send you a coupon code for 20% off your next purchase.