Welcome, to another episode of Long Distance Short. Today’s host is Sempronia, interviewing two very special guests – Katrina – the Supplier Relations Manager at GiftBasketsOverseas.com, and Olivia – the Manager of Gift Baskets Overseas’ Corporate Specialists team. Together, these three dive into the world of corporate gift vendors. Taking a look at why companies everywhere are looking for corporate gift vendors, how to onboard a corporate gift vendor, and how the process can save you time and money while also giving you peace of mind.
Keep listening to hear about the perks of corporate gift vendors and how your team can onboard the international gift experts at GiftBasketsOverseas.com.
How to Onboard a Corporate Gift Vendor – podcast transcript
SEMPRONIA
Welcome, dear listeners! I’m Sempronia, and today I’m thrilled to welcome Katrina — the Supplier Relations Manager at GiftBasketsOverseas.com, and Olivia — the Manager of Gift Baskets Overseas’ Corporate Specialists team.
Ladies, before we dive into the ins and outs of the vendor onboarding process, would you care to tell us a bit about yourselves and your passion for gifting?
Let’s start with you, Olivia.
OLIVIA
Good day! Thank you for inviting me! I have been with Gift Baskets Overseas for 12 years, and 8 of those I was working with our corporate customers in particular. At first it was another challenge but with time, many customers I was working with became more than just a customer: when you know their tastes, preferred methods of communication, can name the countries on their list of gifts as you remember it from the previous years, — you feel like a personal gift assistant than just a contact person from a company. I’m proud of building connections with my customers, and I thank them for giving me this opportunity to help them build connections with their partners and clients all over the world.
SEMPRONIA
And what amazing work you do, Olivia! Katrina, let’s hear more about you.
KATRINA
Hi, everyone! Well, I’ve been with Gift Baskets Overseas for almost 6 years now, and I really appreciate the opportunity to fulfill my mission of making people around me happy, and gift-giving is the easiest way to achieve that. So, as you said, I’m the Supplier Relations Manager, and my job is to maintain a stable and efficient supplier network worldwide to provide our customers with the best gifts and service overall.
SEMPRONIA
Wow. And what important work you do, Katrina! Thank you both so much for being here to speak with me today.
Let us dive right into today’s topic: why do companies use a corporate gift vendor? Olivia, I’m sure this is something that you work with regularly in your role. Can you tell us a bit about why companies should use a corporate gift vendor?
OLIVIA
Sure! Well. Using a corporate gift vendor will save you time and effort when it comes to shopping for gifts year-round. For instance, when you onboard Gift Baskets Overseas as a corporate gift vendor, you get a dedicated Corporate Gift Specialist to speak with, so you know exactly who you will work with every time you need to send a gift.
As an additional perk, Gift Baskets Overseas delivers all over the world. So, when you choose us as your corporate gift vendor, you can place just one bulk order with us, as we serve almost all the countries in the world. One of my clients from the UK usually orders more than 100 orders for the December holidays, and many of those go to countries in the African continent.
Katrina, I am sure you will support me that there are not so many gift delivery companies in Africa, and this sometimes may be challenging, to find and maintain relations with local suppliers there.
KATRINA
Well, not only in Africa, actually, but it can also be a bit difficult to find reliable companies that provide great products and services in many countries in the world. Because of this, we’ve prepared a checklist of standards that our suppliers must meet. When you use Gift Baskets Overseas as your corporate vendor, you’re backed by our 100% satisfaction guarantee. That means we stand by your gift delivery every step of the way, and do the legwork of quality control for you.
SEMPRONIA
Thank you, ladies, so much for that amazing insight! Indeed, using a corporate vendor can really streamline your gifting process and save you time and effort by only having to coordinate with one person.
Let’s dive more into the benefits of using Gift Baskets Overseas as a corporate gift vendor. Olivia, can you tell us more about the perks of being a customer with Gift Baskets Overseas?
OLIVIA
Sure! Gift Basket Overseas has been helping its customers with year-round and holiday gift campaigns for nearly 20 years. By now, we have worked out the best practices we are using daily, which helps us to provide top customer service and deliver gifts across the globe in as little as 2 to 3 business days. Flexibility, which is one of our core values, also helped us to adjust to the new normals that have been hitting the world during the last few years. This, together with the desire to continue improving our customer experience with an updated gift catalog and quality tools, really makes Gift Baskets Overseas the best company to work with for local and international gifts.
You have 24×7 access to our corporate gift specialist team, so whenever you have a question or concern about your gifts, we are only a phone call, email, or WhatsApp message away.
SEMPRONIA
Wow, that’s truly amazing work here, Olivia. Katrina, you mentioned Gift Baskets Overseas’ 100% satisfaction guarantee earlier — can you elaborate on what that means?
KATRINA
Of course! That means that we guarantee that quality products will be delivered each and every time. When the odd mistake does happen, we do our best to resolve the issue as quickly as possible. Over the last nearly 20 years of our work, we’ve made connections with over 5000 local suppliers, so we’ve really perfected and streamlined how to negotiate the best deals, for the best products, in every region.
Additionally, our years of experience have allowed us to get an understanding of each country and culture, as well as build a team that speaks the most-used worldwide languages. This helps us build catalogs of gifts that are appropriate for local gifting customs, as well as check on custom gift requests. As another benefit for customers, Gift Baskets Overseas provides a trusted and heavily protected payment method that isn’t always available in other countries or with smaller vendors.
SEMPRONIA
Great points, Katrina and Olivia; it’s good to know that, with Gift Baskets Overseas, you are backed by a team of experts that is ready to make your gifting experience as quick and easy as possible.
To give a quick wrap-up, having Gift Baskets Overseas as your approved vendor can help you:
- Eliminate risks;
- Improve accountability;
- Increase efficiency;
- And get peace of mind.
How do you sign up to have Gift Baskets Overseas be an approved vendor? Olivia, can you tell us more?
OLIVIA
Absolutely! Making Gift Baskets Overseas an approved vendor is easy, and mostly depends on your company’s inner policies.
We always try to adapt to the needs of a particular client, which may mean sometimes adjusting agreement documents, providing extra delivery reports at different stages of order processing, or creating special requests for the goods we do not usually have in our catalogs. Just recently we delivered a big order to recipients mostly in CIS countries — there has to be a custom gift: a box of tangerines with the Christmas decorations like furs and ornaments, plus a personalized greeting card with the client’s company logo on it. The client has actually seen this original gift on her local market and liked it a lot. With our help, they managed to send a similar gift to over 10 countries, and the recipients were happy to get the boxes we made with love.
If you want to contact our team to learn more about onboarding them as an approved corporate gift vendor, email us at [email protected].
SEMPRONIA
What amazing news, Olivia! It’s good to know that the Gift Baskets Overseas team is standing by and ready to meet the standards of so many different companies to become a corporate gift vendor.
Katrina, before we go, can you tell us more about the behind-the-scenes benefits of working with Gift Baskets Overseas?
KATRINA
Sure! What’s great about Gift Baskets Overseas, is the mutually beneficial relationship that we have with our local suppliers. In many countries, like Benin, Uganda, Ghana, we work with suppliers who have amazing products, but no realistic way of doing international business. Working with Gift Baskets Overseas, you get the benefit of getting the top-quality product, even from big brand names, while helping small local businesses grow in a way that is sustainable and practical. We leverage our relationships with big and small businesses to ensure you get not only the best products, but also the best price.
SEMPRONIA
It’s amazing to know that, working with Gift Baskets Overseas, you are still supporting small businesses while still getting all the perks of Gift Baskets Overseas’s amazing customer service and 100% satisfaction guarantee.
Thank you both for taking the time to speak with me today!
KATRINA
Thanks a lot!
OLIVIA
Thank you!
Wrapping Up How to Onboard a Corporate Gift Vendor
This has been another episode of “Long Distance Short” — your podcast for tips, tricks, and real-life stories of how to make the most of any long-distance relationship. This time, we were talking about how to onboard a corporate gift vendor. If you want to learn more about a corporate gift campaign with GiftBasketsOverseas.com, you can email the team at [email protected], call toll-free from the US and Canada at 1 888 673-2822, or request a call by going directly to the website: www.GiftBasketsOverseas.com.
You’ve listened to our new episode. What’s Next?
- – Learn more about Cultural Differences in Gift Giving in episode 6.
- – Request a consultation with our corporate gift experts!