Im starting my cake business outside my house. I have been decorating cakes for 10 yrs now but not in mass quantities. I would love some advise on how to go about marketing my product. What has worked for some of u gys?? What do you do for mailers?? How to approach corporate ppl?? My main fear is that im not a great sales person i shut down when ppl tell me no and I give up. But now its different I need to do this for my family and the big investment that Im making. PLEASE HELP!!!!!!!
Re: Approaching corporate folks ... here's a long story.
I worked in a corporate office and some dessert shop opened close by. They did what we all say to do .... go door to door with samples. They dropped in our office with a slice of cake (a SLICE of cake) on a plate (well, they had 3 pieces, not just one slice) and a flyer. We, of course, ate it, but the office manager asked, "Why would we call them?" She was asking in the sense of looking for ideas, not in a sarcastic sense.
Their mistake was droppping of cake and saying, "Here! Try this! We're open now!" THey forgot one of the most important aspects of sales: What's in it for the customer? They forgot to give us reasons to call them. They forgot to plant the seed of ideas.
As someone who has worked in corporate for decades, let me share some ideas on what you can do to get the attention of corporate folks. Point out WHY they need a special cake: monthly birthdays (some offices get a cake a month for employees), milestone anniversaries (employees who hit 25 years with the company), new product launches, an kickoff to an incentive program, company holiday parties and employee picnics. Show them you can do their company logo on a cake.
I worked for a company who did work for the Big THree automotive companies and their suppliers. We had a big client come into the office. We bought a cake that looked like a Firestone Tire. It was an AWESOME cake!
So a flyer with these kinds of ideas, photos of these kinds of cakes, that you can leave with the person in charge of planning parties, celebrations and sepcial events will get them thinking. If you have an electronic newsletter, ask if you can add them to your mailing list to keep them updated on your monthly specials and such. Most will say ok.
But when you make your rounds, you're not asking for an order right then and there, so the fear of someone telling you "no" shouldn't exist at this point. You're just there to put your name and face in front of them.
as always indydebi. great advice ..you are one smart cookie 
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