Communication Makes Happy Customers

I have been dealing with a local organization, trying to get a refund for a service that was not performed. I have been very disappointed in the person that I have been in contact with. His communication skills are very lacking. I called and left numerous voice messages, he never returned my calls. If I called the office and happened to catch him in, he would talk to me, but never took the initiative to follow up. I have e-mailed and have finally gotten a response after a few weeks.

I truly believe that I will get my refund, as this is a well known organization and a good one. But, the thoughts that have crossed my mind while this person was not communicating with me has shown me just how important communication is. Communication is especially important when someone's money is involved. When there was no communication, it was easy to think that this man was unconcerned about taking money for a service that I did not receive. How was I to know if he was even telling me the truth about making sure that I got a refund? Had he followed up with me, I would have felt assured that he believed I should have a refund and would see to it that I got one. As it was, I didn't feel like he cared at all. I have considered not being involved with this organization again, as I didn't feel this person was doing his job by not communicating with me. It made me wonder what else he was not doing well and I questioned whether or not I could trust him.

So, what does this tell me? I need to communicate with my customers when they place an order so that they know a real person is handling things and it has not been left up to faceless machines. I need to let them know when their order will ship, make sure I have the personalization correct, and confirm anything else that is appropriate. They are entrusting me with their money, I need to make sure they are kept informed. This seems so simple and we might think that we would never consider not communicating with our customers. But how often do we get so busy that we don't even remember if we have communicated with them? That happens to me! How often do we get interrupted and lose track of what we intended to do. That happens to me! The nice thing about communicating via e-mail is that we can keep copies of our communication. I do that so I not only know that I wrote to them, but what I wrote to them. Now, the next step I am going to take is to make sure that my sent e-mails are in the same folder as the customer's order so that I can easily find that communication.

Communication makes happy customers. Happy customers are what makes my business go. No communication, no happy customers. No happy customers, no business. It's as simple as that.

Why Would You Give Someone an Angel Teddy Bear?

I am finally going to answer the question about angel teddy bears. Someone could choose to send an angel teddy bear just because they are pretty or because someone likes teddy bears and angels. But I've had people choose my angel teddy bears to send to someone for various reasons, all of them good reasons to send a gift from the heart.

~Bereavement (Bereavement Angel in two sizes, Bereavement Angel Ornament, Blue Angel, Baby Guardian Angel )

~Serious Illness (Guardian Angel, Kailie's Angel)

~Breast Cancer Patient (Pearl Angel in two sizes)

~Gift for Sister (Sister Angel)

~Gift for Friend (Friendship Angel)

~Birth of Baby (Baby Guardian Angel, Trinity's Angel)

~Get Well Wish (Get Well Angel)

~Birthday Gift (Birthday Angel - dressed in dress color to correspond with birthstone color)

~Ornament for Tree (Angel Ornament, Baby Angel Ornament)

~Let someone know you care (Prayer Angel)

~Angel Decor (Country Angel)

As you can see the angels have been used for many occasions, some of which I probably am not even aware of. I don't know if there can be a better gift to send someone who is facing a difficult time than an angel, a reminder of God's love and care for them.

If you like wooden angels, my sister-in-law has some beautiful angels. I have one hanging on my wall and it is a "feel good" type of decor. You can see her angels at Bear Farm Woodcrafts, Angels.

Business Observations

After whining about how slow my sales and traffic were in early January,things really started to change about the last full week of January. It's like someone opened the floodgates and suddenly my traffic tripled and orders started coming like crazy. Many of those orders were for Valentine's Day, of course, so we shall see what happens in the next few weeks. Of those many orders, I had at least 5 that were obtained via toll free phone calls. I've never had that many people call me in such a short amount of time. In fact, I'd almost bet that those 5 calls were more phone calls than I received all of last year. Very strange, but good business, so I'll take it.



Here are some interesting things about the traffic. Monday I received a sale from a lady in Germany who wanted an item delivered to a city in Kansas by Valentine's Day. It just so happened that the city is only about 30 minutes from my home, so her chances were very good that Priority Mail will get it there Tuesday. I offered the Express Mail option, but she didn't want to pay more for shipping than for the item she ordered and I couldn't blame her. Anyway, in checking my stats to see if I could find how she found me, I saw that she had searched for "gifts for valentine's day in kansas" or something like that. In google, I came up #13 in this search, which I thought was not bad at all considering that "kansas" is only mentioned once on my index page down towards the bottom where I have listed my name and location, toll free number, etc. I believe that is the first time I have received an order because someone searched for gifts in a certain location.



Then there's the traffic from blogs. No sales from this traffic yet, but still I thought it was interesting. The first traffic from a blog, was not from my own blog, but someone else who has linked to my site, in reference to Valentine's Day as being "Freaky Teddy Bear" and something else day. Not exactly a complimentary link, but people have clicked on the link to see my
freaky teddy bears. Sort of funny really.



Now for the ultimate funny and the reason why I do not make up a lot of any bears ahead of time. I AM A TERRIBLE PREDICTOR of what people will buy. I put in the time and effort to make a very nice page of Valentine gift ideas. I thought I was being very clever in having several different sizes, a wide price range and making the shopping easy by it all being on one page. There were a couple of items that sold well last year and if I had had my helper
working on clothing ahead of time, I would have had her making those items. Guess what! I had almost no sales for those items this year. Know what I sold the most of?? PIRATES! They were not on the Valentine page, people searched for Pirate teddy bear and found me. I don't know if the pirate movies have caused a surge in interest in Pirates or not, but I would never had predicted that many pirates going out the door for V-day. If I had made up items ahead of time, I would have been stuck with that inventory and really have no use for it until next Valentine's day. Some people have told me that there were ads on TV for a pirate bear (not mine, of course!) and perhaps that put the thought in people's heads. I don't know, but I sure sold alot of them and I am glad. That Pirate Bear is one of my very best sellers. Who da thought??

Today is a Significant Day!

Today is a very significant day in the life of this teddy bear clothier! Today is my official 2 year anniversary of finishing chemotherapy for the treatment of breast cancer. While this is not as significant as the 5 year anniversary, reaching 2 years being cancer free increases greatly my chances of staying cancer free! Yippee!! You can read my story on my website . I also wrote a poem about my situation and what gave me the courage I needed to face being diagnosed with cancer. The picture to the left is of an angel bear I designed as a gift for someone just diagnosed with breast cancer. Her name is Pearl Angel Bear , she is dressed in pink satin with pearls hanging from her neck. She comes with a card that has another poem I wrote. This poem is the voice of a friend who is coming alongside the person who has been diagnosed. I had many friends who did that for me and their support, encouragement, and practical help was more valuable than I can ever describe.


"Walk forward in faith,
Let the Lord work His ways.
His unfailing love is with you
For all of your days."

Back to the questions about teddy bears

Another question you may ask is - How did you get started dressing teddy bears as gifts? Good question! I was a typical child who loved her teddy bear - my favorite was a pink teddy bear with a white tummy. I had other teddy bears, too, and I loved them all. I felt a special connection with my teddy bears because my last name was Bear. Yes, my maiden name was Debbie Bear - can you imagine the names the kids made up about me at school? Actually, I thought those names were rather funny and some were even clever. As I grew older, I started collecting other types of bears, just seemed to fit my name. A few years ago, I needed a baby gift for a friend and wanted to make something. Well, what could be a better gift for a baby than something involving a teddy bear? So I dressed a teddy bear, added a matching padded picture frame, then decided it needed one more thing. I took some wooden blocks, spelled out the baby's name and - wahla - a personalized teddy bear gift was born. From there I thought of so many things, I had to try my hand at selling them. When I decided to try selling on the internet (I did some craft fairs and home parties first with minimal success), I never dreamed that I would eventually have over 100 styles of teddy bear gifts to offer, much less that I would have so many customers!!! I didn't know that I could actually make my own patterns for the clothing. I could sew, but had never tried making patterns. Wow, I found out I could do it! (there's an encouragement to try something you've never done - you just might find out you can do it and do it well!) I found out I could cross-stitch and make personalized pillows to go with lots of my teddy bear gifts.

I'm sort of getting off the subject here, but this is my way of explaining that I sort of fell into the business. First because of a need for a gift, then a desire to make something different than I could find in a store. My affiliation with teddy bears just made that choice easy, and they are readily available. I also offer bunnies and a kitty cat angel. I would offer other plush animals if I could find a steady supplier. I'm always looking for something new to add to my line.

Next question to be answered: For what occasions are your angel bears appropriate for?

Who's Your Special Valentine?

Now that I've answered some of your questions, let me ask you a question - "Who's your special valentine?" I'm going to do some blatant advertising here. I bet that whoever your special valentine is, he or she would love a teddy bear this Valentine's Day! Now is the time to buy your special teddy bear gift. Don't miss your opportunity to buy your Valentine's Gifts at a discounted price. Choose your gifts for Valentine's Day now, save 20% on your order, and have your item sent just in time for Valentine's Day! This sale lasts through January 31st , visit my valentine gift page for details. Over twenty neat teddy bear gifts, different styles, different sizes, something for all ages. Wide price range - spend a little or spend a lot! See all the items on one page for your ordering convenience. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised at what I have to offer.

Here I Am!

Well, I've done it. I've started a blog - what have I gotten myself into? I really don't know, but as long as I'm here, I might as well just jump in feet first.

You may be asking - what in the world is a teddy bear gift? My definition would be: it is a teddy bear that is used as a decorative keepsake (not as a toy). The bear is dressed in clothing appropriate to the occasion (wedding clothes, graduation robe, angel dress, flannel nightgown, etc.), and items are added to complete the theme. They're cute, evoke positive emotions, and in general just make you feel good. Often a teddy bear gift will make a recipient feel good simply because someone thought about them. Flowers also evoke that thought, but once they die, it's harder to bring back that good feeling of being thought of. Teddy bear gifts don't wilt and eventually die. They stay cute forever!

The next question you may have is - why a teddy bear? My simple answer would be - why not a teddy bear? What other item brings to mind comfort, solace, happiness, and innocence like a teddy bear? Almost everyone had a teddy bear when they were younger, and that teddy bear was a loved companion. Someone to hug, someone to listen, someone to keep you company at night. Why not turn those childhood memories into a lasting memory?

Okay, that's it for my first post. More lessons on teddy bear gifts later.