234 – How to Create Demand and Grow Your Business with Leeatt Rothschild of Packed with Purpose

Gift biz unwrapped episode 234 We tell the story of impact

behind our products and purveyors so that it truly becomes a

gifting experience.

Attention gifters,

bakers, crafters and makers pursuing your dream can be fun.

Whether you have an established business or looking to start one

now you are in the right place.

This is gift to biz unwrapped,

helping you turn your skill into a flourishing business.

Join us for an episode packed full of invaluable guidance,

resources and the support you need to grow your gift biz.

Here is your host gift biz gal,

Sue moon Heights.

Hi there Sue,

and as always,

I'm honored that you've elected to spend some time with me

today. If you can even believe it.

We're entering into the fourth quarter of the year.

How can this be?

I mean,

wasn't it July 4th just like a second ago.

Timing in the gifting industry always seems so off,

doesn't it?

Back in July we were planning for the holidays and now

it's already action time.

Executing on the plans created just a few short months ago.

Time management with all of this is key and towards that

end I have a question for you.

How did your day go yesterday?

Maybe a crazy question.

I know and yes,

you heard me right?

If you were to rate yesterday,

how much did you get done?

How far did you advance toward your goal or maybe in

your mind you're saying what goal?

Many of you have told me you aren't sure whether what

you're doing is the right thing for your business.

You're confused that you may be focusing on the wrong things

and wasting time and money and you compare yourself to others

and feel like you're just not keeping up.

Sound familiar?

Maybe you find that you're busy all day long,

but when you finish up,

you haven't accomplished much of anything at all.

I've been there too until I started working with what I

now call the power of purpose.

I made a free video for you that explains how to

boost your productivity and get results using the power of your

purpose. Isn't it time to make all the effort that you

put into your business and your life do for you?

What you've intended.

Now, full disclosure,

this video does lead into showing you my brand new inspired

daily planner,

but listen,

you don't need the inspired planner to get all the advantages

out of the power of purpose that I show you in

this video.

So if you're interested in discovering a new way to work

through your days,

so your time is intentional and your results are real,

I encourage you to over and watch this video and you

can find it it gift biz unwrapped.com

forward slash planner that's gift biz on wrapped.com

forward slash planner to tell you I'm excited to have you

hear from our guests today is an understatement.

There is so much gold in this episode.

I almost don't even know where to begin.

Somewhere around the 10 minute Mark,

you'll hear a stellar demonstration of how to describe a business.

It's rich in visualization,

in purpose,

but simple in its explanation.

This is typical with our guest.

Throughout the show,

you'll get a clear sense of her level of professionalism and

style that represents her brand perfectly.

She's also a relatively new business owner,

only three years in,

but she's made huge strides and doesn't hesitate to share what

she knows and what she's still testing.

Besides our value pack conversation,

what I love about our talk is the words she uses

as she describes her business.

You're going to hear things like purposeful purveyors and a suite

of custom curated gifts.

These phrases bring personality and flavor to a business and I'm

quite sure they're used throughout her Workday with employees and customers

alike, so enough of the mystery.

Let's get to our guest reveal Today.

It is my pleasure to introduce you to Liat child of

packed with purpose.

Packed with purpose is a specialty gifting company with a social

mission. They curate high quality business and personal gifts that create

an impact by sourcing products from purpose driven organizations.

The result is a unique gift experience that leaves a lasting

impression. Yeah,

I was inspired to start packed with purpose after serving in

the peace Corps in years in social impact consulting,

advising C suite executives on how to best invest their corporate

social responsibility and marketing dollars.

She observed that these companies were spending billions of dollars on

client prospect and employee gifts that were often unremarkable and sometimes

just wasteful.

Deciding there needed to be a better way to integrate business

strategy and social purpose into gifting.

gift biz on repped podcast.

Thanks so much for having me through.

I'm delighted to be here.

I am thrilled you're here too and we've talked about this

for a little while and we finally gotten it together,

so that's awesome.

I start off each show by having you describe yourself in

a little bit of a different way and that is through

a motivational candle.

We have all creatives listening here and this is a fun

way to see a little bit of a different side of

you. So if you were to share with us what you're

all about through a motivational candle,

what color would it be and what would be the quote

on your candle?

I love this question,

Sue, and my motivational candle would be turquoise because I love

that color.

I gravitate to it because it's soothing and powerful and inspiring.

And the quote would say,

you've got this,

and I'd include that quote because no matter who you are,

what day it is,

you might have some hesitations.

You might have some apprehension to do something.

And I think that that would be a short reminder that

really no matter what it is on your plate,

you can handle it and you can move forward.

I love it.

I think so often we're our own worst enemies we think,

think, think and then we put up all these obstacles where

if we just would use what you're saying,

you've got this,

we really have everything we need inside of us to accomplish

a lot of what our goal is.

I couldn't agree more.

Yeah. So take us back to when you were just in

the concept mode of packed with purpose and maybe even before

that, maybe in serving in peace Corps years,

but how did the progression go to get to where you

are today?

Sure. So I started having the idea of packed with purpose

the area of marketing and social impact.

So a few points along that stop.

I was a peace Corps volunteer in Paraguayan where I really

helped to build economic stability for my community.

But then I also worked at a digital agency in marketing

strategy consulting and in social impact consulting.

So I really sort of flip flop between using my skills

to do good and using my knowledge and bring to help

businesses through marketing.

officers and their teams and marketing teams on how they should

invest their citizenship or corporate social responsibility dollars to positively impact

the business,

but then also to positively impact society.

And it was a cold day in Chicago in December,

our office was littered with typical holiday gifts,

so your Wicker basket of fruit or your box of cookies.

And it just dawned on me that companies were spending really

millions and billions of dollars on doing good and the best

corporate gift that was available to us was more of the

same. And it became clear that there was a real opportunity

to provide a gift that also created an impact.

And so that was where the first ideation of packed with

purpose was born.

So a question for you as I'm listening to your story,

what was the reasoning for some of the gifting that they

were doing?

You talk about that it was clients,

prospect and employee gifts.

What were some of the purposes and the reason behind gifting?

So the initial scenario,

what the gifting need was,

was centered around holiday gifts.

So as you know,

the fourth quarter holiday season is really where producers of products

and gifts and the manufacturers of those items are really at

an all time high in terms of the number of gifts

that individuals and companies are sending out.

So the real need that I noticed was around sending client

gifts when a company was a B2B provider of a particular

service. And thanking your client for working with you for that

year. Really with the desire to say,

I hope we get to work again next year and I

hope we continue our operating agreement.

Got it.

Let's start talking about the evolution actually of packed with purpose.

What were the first things after you identified this,

what were the first steps that you took to establish packed

with purpose?

Yeah, so I'll give you a better sense of the progression

from the initial idea to actually having a full blown prototype

or concept.

So it really all began where in my previous role I

was exposed to various social enterprises or purpose driven organizations.

And there was one product that was made by opportunity youth

in Detroit.

They made a delicious granola bite and it was part of

a job training in 21st century skills building program for youth

in the inner city of Detroit.

And I just thought,

well, what if I could bundle together a number of products

like this one and tell the story of impact behind were

no law or chocolate or coffee or a notebook,

whatever it might be.

Couldn't that be a great alternative to the ubiquitous payors or

popcorn that is traditionally sent?

So I started sharing this idea with some friends and some

colleagues and I said,

you know,

what do you think about this?

And the initial thought was,

Oh yeah,

and you're right,

this doesn't exist.

This could be great.

So what I ended up doing was I took an alternative

to the goody bag concept and it was my daughter's first

birthday. I put together my first low fidelity prototype of a

pack with purpose gift.

I crowdsourced a logo,

I found some packaging products online and I sourced products from

the social enterprises that I was familiar with.

And what I did was at the end of my daughter's

birthday party,

I had many friends that were there who could have been

decision makers for their companies holiday or client gifts.

And I gave them a gift box at the end of

the party and I said,

I'm going to follow up for a 10 minute call.

I'd love to get your feedback and your thoughts on this.

So that was really how I went from that first step

of ideation to putting something together to start to get feedback

and see if this idea actually had legs.

Was this a goody box really for the parents of the

children? Correct,

exactly. Did the girls get their own goody box things or

their own goodie bag?

No, it was for her first year birthday.

So at one years old,

I feel like those kids don't even know what's going on.

It's really a party for the parents and their friends,

So, right.

Well that was really smart because you're getting initial validation of

the concept then.

That's right.

And I use that to get some feedback and that's what

really enabled me to move forward with our real first prototype,

which I launched as part of a Indiegogo crowdsourcing campaign.

So that was the first way that I was able to

get a product out to the marketplace.

Obviously going beyond any friends or family that I knew and

putting something in front of individuals that might be interested in

the concept of packed with purpose.

Were any of those initial mothers buying into the program and

then purchasing it from the Indiegogo campaign.

So from the feedback that I got from friends and family,

I actually did have one individual who continued to buy packed

with purpose gifts once we actually launched into what I call

a real company.

But then from the Indiegogo campaign,

we did have several customers that they bought one gauged or

they bought a handful of gifts and a few of those

have actually continued to be supporters and customers of packed with

purpose moving forward.

Love the fact that you did the initial market research and

you kind of did it in a couple of levels.

So gift biz listeners,

this is a good concept,

particularly if you're not sure about your product yet.

So you heard what Liat would say in his in terms

of talking with some family,

then actually introducing it to people in a more formal way.

I'm still on this initial market research.

And then we're going to get to the Indiegogo again to

Liat. But were there any surprises from some of the parents

about the packaging?

Did you see some good feedback in terms of how to

progress forward?

Yeah, you know,

I got great feedback in terms of what I'd call like

use case scenarios.

So part of what I wanted to know was does the

product delight you,

provide me some thoughts on the packaging and the design.

But then I also wanted to get a better understanding of

how would you actually use these gifts.

So there was someone that said,

Oh I would love to use this as teacher gifts.

And in fact we now have a line of teacher gifts

available online.

And one of the initial customers has continued to be a

consistent customer over the nearly three years of our existence.

So that's one good piece of feedback.

And then the other was folks who are really interested in

better understanding the impact behind the products.

And so what started with a simple postcard that had one

line on the various products has now evolved into a really

beautiful eye-catching booklet that showcases the impact of our purveyors.

So sometimes you get feedback and it's almost like a bullet

point and it's up to you to really tease out the

learnings and apply that to your business and make sure that

you're putting all of that feedback in the best light so

that you can really delight your customers.

Love it.

So the booklet really sets you apart then.

Correct. From anyone else who's doing box programs or something,

this where there is some gift back because you're adding in

the whole story.

So do you have different booklets then for different boxes?

That's a great question.

So when we first launched,

we had different cards for different boxes,

but with our growth and with sending thousands of gifts out

each year,

that became operationally in sustainable.

So what we have now is a comprehensive booklet that showcases

most of our purveyors and it's got really beautiful photography and

it's got a short quote about that organization's impact and that

can provide each and every one of our gift recipients with

the general theme for how all of our products and all

of our purveyors do good without having to worry about the

operational complexities of multiple inserts across dozens of different gift configurations.

Right. And then it also gives you the flexibility if you

want to bring product in and out of different boxes.

Let's say something happens with one of your sources and they're

no longer available or for short term aren't available.

It seems like a much better solution.

Absolutely. I think I'm recognizing right now,

Lee, you and I have known each other for a while.

We never really discussed exactly what the product is.

We just started in with it.

Do you want to share with everybody that's a box and

it would be great.

I know there you're right,

But this is what happens when you know someone and you

assume that all of that is common knowledge,

Right? Yes.

In terms of background,

so packed with purpose is a business and personal gifting company

where all of the products in our gift boxes do good.

And as I mentioned,

we tell the story of impact behind our products and purveyors

so that it truly becomes a gifting experience.

And we primarily focus on business gifting needs.

So companies that are sending gifts to their clients perhaps to

employees as an onboarding gift or a first year anniversary,

thank you gift as well as to prospects.

So companies that are looking to engage with prospects to educate

them about their products or services.

And then of course we also have gifts for personal needs,

whether it's someone that wants to send a gift to their

friends or family or even let's say a new baby gift

for your colleague.

And the array of products that we have in the array

of gift collections is really fast.

So we've got a host of typical holiday shareables where it

might be an alternative to a gift basket that has fruit

or has cookies or other edibles.

But then we also have other gifts that might pair a

tumbler and a branded notebook with a brownie that companies use

as an awning gift or as a conference gift.

So there's really a wide assortment of products in our gifts

and generally we like to say we're helping both businesses and

individuals send gifts,

whether it's a typical corporate gift or it's an appreciation or

thank you gift.

Perfect. That was good just to ground everybody in terms what

we're talking about.

And of course give business owners,

you can go right online and you can see exactly what

we're talking about,

how beautiful these boxes are,

the contents that they have,

et cetera,

et cetera.

And all of those links are in our show notes page.

So we have talked up to this point,

the evolution of the product creation.

Let's mimic that with the evolution of business growth.

In terms of the backend,

things like you started by yourself.

How did that growth happen for you?

Yeah, so I think like many businesses,

once you see that there is demand,

you start to fill the need that's most pressing.

So for me,

one of those roles was an operations role and the other

was a sales role.

So there's a lot of complexity to,

on the one hand it's simple.

We're a gifting company.

On the other hand,

any one of your listeners that has a gifting company knows

there's so many complexities from the products that go into the

gift, making sure you've got inventory available,

making sure personalized messages are accurate and as you grow,

and the volume of what we're sending out increases,

particularly in the fourth quarter,

one of my first hires was having someone that could support

the operations.

So really initially it was operational support and then sales because

as we had new companies that were interested in our gifts

or individuals that were purchasing gifts online,

we needed to continue to get the word out so that

additional companies that might be interested in packed with purpose knew

that we existed and we could educate them and help them

order, you know,

in an easy manner.

How did you,

or maybe you didn't have this issue,

but I know a lot of our listeners do.

How did you get over that initial,

I'm going to do this all myself versus I'm going to

bring in help?

Well, when you start a business,

when you're seven months pregnant with twins,

I think it's a good reality check to realize that you

can't do it all yourself.

Having said that,

of course there were times where I could have or should

have hired someone even earlier,

but we're all human and some of us decide to take

that leap sooner rather than later.

You were kind of forced into it,

it sounds like.

Correct. I was forced into finding services companies,

people that could support the business and our growth because right

out of the gate I knew I wasn't going to be

able to package and ship several hundred or a few thousand

gifts in that first year because I had twins in the

NICU. So I already looked for someone to support the operations

and a fulfillment center.

And so that was a natural parlay to say,

well, how do I find additional people that can support our

sales growth and help customers know about who we are and

help them in their ordering process?

And at what point along the way then in this evolution

where you,

so were you past the Indiegogo?

Oh yes.

In the Indiegogo phase,

I had a individual that was supporting me on the operations

and because I,

as I just mentioned,

I started the business when I was pregnant with twins.

I actually took about a six month break before I launched

our online store.

And so I was able to,

let's say confine the level of complexity and I fulfilled all

of our orders through the Indiegogo campaign.

I was able to then focus on building our online website

and then once that was in a good place and I

had six month old twins,

I was able to say,

okay, let's actually open up the online store.

A few months later I started hiring for sales positions and

that's how we started to grow.

Got it.

I love that you bring this up because I think some

people think that you go from not having a business to

then having everything all at once and there's two things that

you said here that I think are important because you were

building your family and you were pregnant and all of that.

You took it in stages too.

First you did Indy Gogo product validation,

two steps,

product validation.

Then you built your website and then it went full force,

right? That's right.

So it's not from zero to a hundred right away.

You can go in stages and attack actually better to do

it that way.

The other thing I like about what you're saying is you

integrated it into what was going on in your life at

the moment.

So I think so many people will start something and then

maybe they have a crisis.

They are a sick child or a sick parent or something.

When we own our own businesses,

we can put on the brakes a little bit.

Still be productive,

right? I mean to your point layout,

you are building your websites,

you are still progressing,

but you can ebb and flow the business as you need

to to fit within your whole life because your business is

not your whole life.

That's right.

So now you have operations,

you have sales.

Let's talk a little bit more about sales because I know

this is a challenge for a lot of people.

How do you go and attract new customers and get new

sales? So we do that through a number of different ways.

I, I have a few individuals that really focus on outbound

sales efforts.

So they're prospecting and they're creating a list of companies or

individuals that they think would be interested in corporate gifts and

would be really excited about using a gifting company that embedded

social good or purpose into their gifts.

So that's one of the ways through outbound sales efforts.

Another is through advertising and we focused a lot of our

efforts on pay-per-click.

So Google ad words we've got,

whether it's executive assistants or marketing managers or let's call it

regional sales directors,

they might be at work and they're typing a client gifts

or year-end holiday client gifts.

And that's a way for us to reach our prospective clients

at the point where they're actually really interested in finding a

solution to their gifting needs.

So I'd say those are two different avenues that we've focused

on. Are you doing any Facebook advertising?

We are doing some Facebook advertising and we have seen some

initial traction,

not as much as Google ad words.

And I think part of that is for Facebook ads.

Oftentimes people are on that.

Is it outlet?

So you're looking at that on a personal level and a

social engagement tool.

But it's not necessarily where the marketing manager who's tasked with

finding gifts for their 300 VIP clients is looking to get

additional information.

Couldn't agree with you more and I think that just the

whole popularity of social media,

we forget some of the more traditional ways of approaching the

market, which is Google ads.

I've heard more and more people saying exactly what you are

in terms of Google ads,

so something to think about in terms of Google ad words,

but also SEO because people can find you organically.

Also. Are you guys doing any YouTube videos or blog articles

or anything like that connected with your site?

Great question.

So we're not doing any YouTube videos.

We are starting to create our own content in terms of

posting organic content across different social media channels.

So for us that is primarily Facebook,

Instagram and LinkedIn because we are focused on that business professional

and then creating blog content so that if folks are looking

for gifts,

let's say employee gifts or international women's day or client gifts

throughout the year,

they can find us based on content that we're producing.

Okay. So all this sounds great.

You clearly have positioned yourself well at the top of the

organization. You have a lot of departments now that are helping

you with all different types of things,

which is why you sound so calm,

Leah. Well,

that's a facade too because so many people are Trying to

do everything.

And just in listening to how you've progressed in just three

short years,

I think a lot of it is because you've put yourself

at the top,

you've recognized the different avenues that the business needs to take.

You're the one directing the ship,

but you've brought in people who know what they're doing at

each of those junctures.

So you've kept yourself at a level where you can strategically

direct the business and other people who are outbound sales experts,

ops, et cetera,

can work under you.

And I think that's how you've grown also to the level

that you have.

But share with us.

So it all sounds great,

right? There has to be a story or two,

but I'm only going to ask you for one where things

weren't working so well.

Can you bring us to that point?

Absolutely. We're going to hear about one of challenges.

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So I'll take us back to the very first days.

So when we were fulfilling all of the orders related to

our Indiegogo campaign,

we just about a thousand gifts that had to be sent

out in a week's period.

And one of our purveyors sent us a product that was

damaged. And basically we had a very tight timeline where we

had to scramble to contact our purveyor,

alert them to the issue,

have them send us replacement immediately.

Our fulfillment team was then put on hold so that they

could accept the new product.

And all of this was happening while I had really newborn

twins. They were just about 10 days old.

I was in the NICU every single day.

So that is a backdrop made for a pretty stressful situation.

But I think that keeping my calm and working together with

my fulfillment team and with our purveyor to find the best

solution that was as quick as possible so we could deliver

on our promise in a timely manner to all of our

Indiegogo backers was critical.

Are there any tips or any suggestions that you have for

someone who might be in a situation like that?

I'm not sure what that would be,

but I'm thinking relationships with vendors,

you know,

I'm not sure.

What would you say?

Absolutely. So I think,

well one thing I would say is we affectionately call our

product suppliers purposeful purveyors,

and part of that is obviously the connotation of how they're

doing good,

but enough.

Another part of it is that I don't view them as

a vendor.

They're really our partner in enabling us to create amazing gifts

that wow our centers and ultimately gift recipients.

And so part of that is establishing really strong rapport with

them so we could immediately alert them to the issue and

work with them collaboratively to find the best solution so that

we didn't falter on sending all of these gifts.

In a timely manner.

And the other thing I would say is working with your

counterparts and your internal team.

For us it was my colleague who was supporting the operations

and our fulfillment center that was working with us to get

the situation resolved.

So lots of people have good ideas and when you find

yourself in a sticky situation,

working with others and being creative with them will likely get

you to a solid solution despite the odds.

Perfect. But in the end it always comes down to relationships,

doesn't it?

How you treat people and the relationships that you have.

Absolutely. So I know also that PR just traditional PR has

played a role.

Can you talk a little bit about that?

Yeah, so I think I've learned a lot about what works

in the realm of PR.

And at the same time we've really just started to explore

how PR can support our business.

So a few words of console based on our experiences,

it's really important to know what kind of PR is going

to be most effective and important for you as a business

based on your clients and the decision makers that you want

to focus on.

So in the early days I had a number of placements

on TV shows and while that was flattering,

segment on Wednesday isn't necessarily focused on the marketing director or

the client service director that we wanted to court and to

share the story of packed with purpose with.

So we've moved away from a focus on TV and times

that were not a fit for us to having placements in

business related publications and publications that are focused on industries where

we found we've had a lot of traction.

So we've learned a lot in terms of how PR can

help us.

And I think with the tools of technology,

we've also been able to see a clear ROI on which

publications in placement are actually driving traffic and of that traffic,

what is converted to an order.

So that's been instrumental and hopefully all of your listeners are

using CRM systems and solutions that can sort of demystify how

your marketing dollars are having an ROI on your business.

So important.

I was talking just this morning now,

one of my course calls about how it's not just overall

sales, it's you've got to dig down into the data and

see what's actually bringing that sale in.

Absolutely. But how are you doing that for,

let's say you've got TV placements,

multiple ads,

how are you able to track back where that's coming from?

Yeah, so for the TV placements we were not able to

have a direct track and that's where we also realized that

audience wasn't who we were trying to reach.

But for the write ups in let's say a business week,

daily or in Forbes or in another publication,

we're able to see which of those individuals comes to our

website when they sign up to fill out a form.

And so it might be filling out a form to sign

up for our corporate newsletter.

It might be getting more information on a custom curated gift.

So if anyone finds us through one of those sources and

complete any kind of form or sign up on our website,

that's how we can track who is coming to us,

let's say from a paid ad through Google versus coming to

us through a PR placement And so on those forms,

do you have tracking codes?

We use,

HubSpot is our CRM and that's able to pull the original

source code.

So for all of our contacts in our CRM,

we're able to see if this was someone that is part

of our database because one of our sales individuals has reached

out to them.

Was it through a networking event?

Is it through a Facebook or Google ads or did they

come through us through a referral code such as an article

that we were placed in through PR.

Perfect. I want to underline based on all that you just

said right now to everyone who's listening,

you heard how she started with what's the purpose and what's

the intent of the PR.

It's great to get local placement in newspapers.

Certainly it's a credibility play.

If you get in one of the big journals or on

TV and I think there's a place for that,

but then on top of that,

is it really driving results?

You can do a little bit for credibility,

but then is it driving the results and you want to

think about that beforehand versus after.

I know a lot of you are also thinking about going

into corporate placement.

Either you want to sell your product wholesale or you want

to do direct business to business through big corporations,

big businesses.

If you're in gifting and you really should think of what

platforms that you're on,

LinkedIn is starting to play a big role.

That social media platform is transitioning from just being job creators

and linking people in to being much more of a place

where people are selling and buying.

The whole thing is changing.

Are you seeing that as well yet?

We are in,

actually we use LinkedIn right now as a prospecting tool,

but we're actively evaluating whether we want to start pushing advertisements

on LinkedIn because we have a really good sense of the

job titles of the individuals that are actively looking for client

gifts or employee gifts or prospecting gifts.

And it's a great opportunity for us to get in front

of them and hopefully help them find a great gifting solution

that they might not have been aware of.

Right. And I think your point also about Facebook,

what's the intent when people are on Facebook,

it's probably more personal and the decision makers who would be

making a choice for your gifts probably aren't on Facebook when

they're looking at that decision.

That's not their mindset.

But definitely they would be with LinkedIn.

Absolutely. And the other thing I would say is we are

still very much in the experimentation stage.

So while we have a good sense of what the ROI

is on our Google ads and perhaps that Facebook doesn't have

as much result for us,

there's still so many different tactics that we have yet to

explore and to test out.

And that's one of the exciting things related to starting a

business and it's one of the challenging things that no one

really has.

The final answer.

You will only have a sense of what works if you

try it out.

Absolutely. And things keep changing,

especially where social media is involved.

So what was working even a year ago is different now.

I don't think that ever goes away,

unfortunately. Absolutely.

Okay. Let's switch a little bit over to customer retention.

How are you working with your current customers to ensure repeat

purchases? Yeah,

that's a great question.

So I would break this down into active communication.

So after a customer sends a gift,

having one of our sales individuals follow up to understand how

has that gift received,

or oftentimes,

how was that batch of gifts received?

They have any feedback periodically,

staying in touch with them,

sharing content with them through our newsletters,

that is inspiring and educational.

So introducing them to a suite of gifts and various purveyors

and how our gifts create an impact so they can continue

to be wowed and dazzled by what we do.

And then also something that we're going to be doing in

the next month is sending out new samples to some of

our top customers so that they can be exposed to new

products and purveyors.

And that's a way for us to also jumpstart the conversation

on their holiday gift orders.

I love the idea of sending out samples because oftentimes the

people who are purchasing never get to experience our gifts,

especially if you're in a consumable business.

Absolutely. So that's brilliant.

Love that.

You talk about your newsletters,

inspiring and educational.

I would imagine you have a ton of content because you

can talk about any one of your purposeful partners.

Is that what you call them?

Purposeful purveyors.

Purposeful purveyors,

yeah. So they all have stories and photos and all of

that. So is that what you're using in your newsletters?

It is.

Our content really varies from,

and I should caveat this by saying we are just now

starting to jumpstart all of our marketing efforts.

So we've been sitting on a treasure trove of content,

whether it's photos or quotes or stories about individuals from our

purposeful purveyors or about how different companies or organizations at a

whole are creating an impact.

And then there's a host of other information around applying engagement

and how has sending the right gifts or the wrong gifts

can increase your connection to individuals and strengthen relationships.

Not to mention a whole nother set of content related to

the increase of embedding purpose and social good into companies and

how that has been a differentiator for companies to attract talent,

to keep talent,

to enhance their client relationships and really differentiate themselves.

So in a nutshell,

there is tons of content for us to use.

And as the CEO,

I'm thrilled that we are now actively starting to use that

to share why we think our gifts are really special and

unique for our customers.

Love it.

So you have peaked my curiosity.

So I have to ask you this question.

What do you mean by good gifts and bad gifts?

Yeah. So I think part of this is subjective,

but I just read a fascinating article that said,

sending your client branded sweater or a branded mug is not

a good gift.

It's a branded Monica.

And I think part of what makes a great gift is

thinking about what your recipient would enjoy receiving and also making

that gift more personal.

And sometimes adding that personal element is in the gift card.

Sometimes it might be the content of the gifts.

And so for many of our customers,

specifically our corporate clients,

they are looking at our gifts as an opportunity for them

to showcase how they are taking active steps to be a

better corporate citizen and how they're using their procurement dollars to

create an impact.

So for example,

we had a wonderful financial services company that sent large gift

boxes to all of their offices nationally and internationally so that

they could celebrate international women's day.

And the message was focused on how various products in our

gift boxes,

we're empowering women and providing them with job training and workforce

development. So that was a really wonderful gift because it underscored

the message that they wanted to share.

It was as personal as it could be while also sending

out dozens of gifts and it was a way for that

company to share a message that was important to all of

their employees.

Listening to you talk,

I wouldn't even say that you're just a specialty gifting company.

I would say that you are a marketing specialist cause you're

using your gifts and then you're offering your clients marketing advice

of how they can heighten the perception of their business for

their customers as well.

I agree with you.

I think that's an astute observation That is brilliant and it

just gives me shivers over here.

I think.

I mean it's so interesting to listen to you because you're

so early on still in the business,

but to hear how much you have advanced is pretty incredible,

I have to say.

Have you gotten recognition along the way for the growth that

you've had so far?

We have gotten recognition,

right? Sometimes it's a small Pat on the back that feels

really good and other times it's a lift to the business

that is remarkable in terms of sales.

But I would say two points that were nice recognition along

the way about,

I'm going to say maybe a year ago,

it might've been two now the years sort of flow together,

but between a year or two ago.

Then mayor Rahm Emanuel gifted a packed with purpose gift on

TV, on air in windy city live.

So that was great recognition and obviously a great way for

people to learn about our product.

So that's one instance and then we were recently one of

three finalists in inc magazine and the ups stores small business

competition. So there were over 2,500

applicants and we were one of the three finalists that made

it to a competition.

That was just last week in New York.

We actually got second place.

We were thrilled with the results and it's a great way

for us to get recognition from the business community and a

resource and to resources really that are focused on helping small

and medium businesses grow.

Congratulations. While you know that I placed that question cause I

knew that second one when I didn't know the results.

So congratulations.

That's awesome.

Thank so much.

A ton of visibility for you all told for sure.

Absolutely exciting to see where that's going to go.

Yeah. So getting back a little bit to some tactical things

before we get done here.

You've mentioned HubSpot is one of the tools that you use

to keep track of customers tracking all of that.

Are there one or two other tools that you find you

just need to have and what you rely for your business

the most?

Well I'd say HubSpot is definitely an anchor beyond HubSpot.

Shopify is what fuels our eCommerce website.

Google alerts is actually a great way to stay up to

date on news and terms that are important.

So it might be corporate gifts,

it might be social responsibility or social good.

But that's a great way for us to be up to

date on what the general community and business community is talking

about related to our business.

And another one,

which is just a hard rule for finances for us as

QuickBooks, which is what we use for all of our corporate

payments and processing.

Perfect. And I'm going to link to some of these sources.

Give biz listeners also over in the show notes.

Let's just jump back to Google alerts for one second.

So you're talking about being an educational tool for you in

terms of the conversations taking place online.

Do you also ever use it to respond,

you know,

if something comes up or comment on someone else's blog so

you can get attention out there for your business as well?

We have not used it for that,

but I love that as an idea.

So I've made a note of that.

We've used it really as we have an alert for our

company name because believe it or not,

there were instances in the early days and even now where

we might be mentioned in a Roundup of top gifts or

prospect gifts or personal gifts you didn't know about.

And we would be mentioned in articles.

And this was a great way for us to know because

sometimes those journalists don't even have the ability or the time

to follow up with you and let you know that you've

been featured.

So that's something that we use and really it's a way

for us to stay up to date on content and then

in turn use that content or articles or if it's a

new study that was just released talking about the importance of

social purpose and building progressive companies that are going to last

for the next decade.

That's a great way for us to stay up to date

on those articles and use them in our content marketing.

I was imagining just that it's great inspiration for your newsletters

too. Exactly.

Not to copy and paste what they've said,

but just that's a topic that is interesting.

I could,

we could expand on it or however it would work within

your newsletters.

Yep. So what's coming up next,

Leah? What's the future look like?

So the immediate future,

although we're in August,

we are actively focused on holiday gifts.

So I can't tell you the number of emails and calls

that either I've received or my colleagues have received where the

opening line is,

believe it or not,

but we're already thinking about holiday gifts,

so although it's hot outside and almost 90 degrees,

we're really thinking about the holiday season and that's what's on

our plate for the near term and for the longer term.

For me,

it's really building the business,

making sure that it is growing sustainably and that it's stable

for each year.

The influx of additional orders,

additional clients,

new purveyors,

new gift box configuration,

so there's a lot to it to maintain our growth and

also to make sure that we never falter on a hundred

percent customer excellence.

That's beautiful.

What would be your advice to someone who's just starting out

and is a little bit hesitant?

Might be a little bit overwhelmed with our conversation because let's

face it,

you've gone far fast.

What would you say to someone who's kind of thinking about

they've got a handmade business,

they're just starting to think,

but they just haven't pulled the trigger yet.

Just haven't crossed the line.

What would you say to them?

So I would say just start sharing your idea.

If you keep it to yourself,

you're never going to know if it has his legs.

You're never going to be able to hear someone's advice on

how to make it a reality quickly or in an inexpensive

manner or in a way that you could actually achieve.

So share your ideas,

share them wide with multiple people.

The worst thing that happens if someone tells you it's a

horrible idea,

the best thing that happens is someone enables you to make

that idea reality faster.

And there's nothing more gratifying than that.

Okay. So I know my listeners,

and I have to ask this question,

this is from all of them,

but what if someone steals my idea?

You know,

I've heard lots of people being worried about that,

and it might depend on your industry,

but to hear an idea and then to actually put that

into reality,

even if someone thinks your idea is wonderful,

there is so much that has to happen in order for

that to take place.

So unless you feel like you've got an easily replicable idea

or product and you're talking to someone that's got the wherewithal

to put that in place,

I would say you're probably safe sharing it and really the

most important thing is making sure you're sharing this with people

that can give you good feedback and that you don't believe

are prone to take your idea and run with it.

I would say two to three years after initially having the

idea of packed with purpose,

there is so much that goes into building this business and

taking that initial idea and making it a successful reality.

So you might be concerned about someone stealing your idea,

but there's so much that has to happen in order to

actually do that,

that you're probably better off getting some good feedback from people

whose opinions you trust as opposed to keeping an idea to

yourself and never bringing it to life.

I agree with you there wholeheartedly.

And I would also say no one,

like if you look at packed with purpose and you shared

the idea and someone decided,

Oh this is a good idea,

I'm going to try it myself.

No one is going to be able to put together what

you've put together Llyod it's just not going to happen.

I mean they might have something that started off as something

similar, but it's not going to be what you have here.

Correct. And I think that's part of every founder has a

vision for what they want for their company and no one

can truly replicate it even if you share some of the

bones of what that idea entails.

Absolutely. All right,

so our listeners I'm sure are very curious.

Want to know more?

Where would you send them online to learn more about packed

with purpose?

Well, they should go to our website,

www.packedwithpurpose.gifts. You can see all of our pre curated gift collections

and you can also contact us if you're interested in any

corporate orders or custom orders.

Wonderful. Leon,

this has been so much fun.

I am so impressed with what you've built.

I love the fact that it has obviously the intent and

the purpose and the overlay of the social mission,

but what you've done with this business overall is really truly

impressive. Thank you so much for coming on the show and

sharing it with us.

Thank you so much for having me Sue.

So much direction and advice in this show.

Leah used the adjectives wowed and dazzled at one point and

I'm thinking that's how you're feeling right now.

You might even want to bookmark this one for future reference,

so on deck for next week is an interesting twist to

the typical show.

You may recognize this trend within the handmade industry,

but it's still in its infancy,

meaning there's a lot of opportunity out there for you if

you're interested.

We'll go into the details next week of course,

and I look forward to us being together again.

Then bye for now.

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