I mentioned in my first attempt at blogging that the current ‘pause’ in business could provide an opportunity to grow a little and think creatively. Well, here’s my first ‘Eureka moment’! Gift vouchers.
In my early twenties, I had an adventure boating business on Sydney Harbor with my best friend, Tyrone, a former Clearance Diver with the Royal Australian Navy. Without any exagguration, he was the US version of a US Navy Seal. Anyway, after about a year or so, he suggested that we sell gift vouchers. I scoffed at the idea and resisted. I just couldn’t see why guests would buy them and I had no idea how to work out a suitable voucher system. Luckily he peristed and hesitantly, I agreed. It ended up making up about 30 per cent of our revenue within a few months. How wrong I was. I even worked out a system that functioned efficiently!
Our guests loved them because they could pay upfront on the phone and didn’t have to worry about using a credit card on the day. Back in the day, my ‘portable’ credit card machine was the size of a suitcase so not having to carry this around was wonderful. Corporates bought them to give away as gifts to their staff. Mom’s and dad’s gave them to their children at Christmas and birthday.
To be honest, I don’t know why it took a virus to make me instigate this!
So anyway, here they are. You’ll find the “Gift Vouchers” item above. I’ve attached some pre-determined values (I had to do this) and you can use most credit cards or Paypal. You’ll be given a unique code and I’ll get an email saying that you now have a voucher in the denomination of your choosing. No, I don’t see your credit card!
What do you say?
