Gift Cards
by Donna Bayes
6/16/2004
Every Christmas and Easter and birthday and graduation, I buy my kids gift cards. Gift cards to Target. Gift cards to Best Buy. Gift cards to this store and that store. Gift cards are everywhere and in every store. They are easy, trendy, and affordable, and always well received.
Recently Patti Medvescek, a consultant from Indianapolis, IN, wrote me and shared about her concept of a MK Gift Card. When I asked her for more details, she went above and beyond the call of duty and mailed me one. I loved it! Thank you, Patti, for sharing your idea and stimulating my creativity. Here is the gift card that I created.
The new file in Word is organized a little differently than the others. Note the Word file has three pages of the front of the card and only one page of the back.
Print on six sheets of white card stock.Put them back into the printer and print on the back. (make sure you put them in correctly so that they print the way they should)Take the full sized sheets to the copy center and have them laminated.I prefer not to cut them out prior to laminating. Even though the guy at the copy center told me I should leave a 1/4 to 1/8 inch edge of lamination around each card, I prefer to cut right on the line. So far, so good.The Card Folders are printed on white card stock and cut in fourths and then folded in half.I attach a gift card to the inside of the card folder with a small piece of double stick tape. (you could also use a dot of hot glue or fun tac)When I sell one, I will seal it with a silver MK seal.I have gift cards in $5, $10, $25, $50, $75, and $100 amounts.I made the $5 ones as an afterthought. I got my hair cut today and thought I could have given the stylist one as a tip. They can also be used when warm chattering.I will display these in my product studio as a constant reminder to my customers that a Mary Kay Gift Card would make a great gift!Patti also explained how she handles the sale of one of these cards in Boulevard. Inventory the card as a new product. (e.g. $5.00 Gift Card; $10.00 Gift Card)When you sell one, the "Gift Card product" in the appropriate amount will be listed on the invoice. That will show the proper sale on your weekly accomplishment sheet, but will not affect your product inventory.When the card is redeemed, again put it on the invoice, but instead of a sale, it is a return to inventory. That will credit the invoice with the proper amount and then you can just sell the actual product.When you get a card redeemed, you can recycle it and use it again.I have created these in Publisher 2002. This will be the best download, but in case you have no access to Pub, then I will also post them in Word as well as in a pdf file. You can change the personal information on the last page of the Word file, or if you have the ability to change the text in the pdf file, you can insert your own information. If not, then you can use the one where I left the personal information off and use your stamp to include the information necessary (or add an address label with the information).
Ways to use the Gift Cards:
You can use them when warm chattering..."Your service has been so great, thank you! Here's a gift card to use in my business.""Here's a gift card to use when you come over for your pamper session."when sending your reminder card about the get together..."You can use this gift card when you share your appointment with a friend.""When you bring a friend to our Success Event, you'll be able to redeem this gift card."send customers a nice letter for their Bday with the $13 gift card for them to use that month.send it to customers who haven't reordered their skin care since initial purchase and to offer it to them THIS MONTH toward the purchase of renewing their skin care.send to everyone you want to get started on the microdermabrasion?