Anonymous

Susan got to work, and quickly came up with a variety of creative gift ideas. The VP’s feedback was that they weren’t quite right. The VP then provided a few ideas of his own, several over the budget. After a couple more rounds of back-and-forth, the VP had a brainstorm: Riedel stemless wine glasses.

The glasses needed to be sourced. They needed to be wrapped with gift paper and branded ribbon, packaged with a personalized card, and then individually boxed with protective fill to minimize the chance of breakage. And then they needed to be drop shipped to each person. All of these requirements meant finding the right fulfillment partner to coordinate the logistics.

Could Susan make it happen? She was given until the end of week to figure it out.

“I was so impressed not only with Susan’s responsiveness and creativity—but the way she was able to partner with us to fulfill our VP’s vision—that I decided to work on this project with Silicon Valley Specialties exclusively,” she explains.

Susan provided quotes for etched Riedel stemless glassware as well as an etched bottle of wine. (Once you’ve finished the wine, the bottle becomes a keepsake. Et voila!)

The VP loved the glassware, but the etched decoration was going to be cost prohibitive. Why? Riedel wine glasses are made out of delicate crystal with breakage a major factor in the decorating cost. In addition, the glasses had to be unpacked and then repacked into their retail gift box.

Susan went back to her vendor to cost blank glassware, but their blank cost was still over-budget. Susan decided to see if Riedel would work directly with her. Much to her delight, the company was enthusiastic about working together and agreeable to pricing that met the client’s budget. Susan then found a fulfillment resource, and together they worked out the logistics.