Corporate Gift Pros

Corporate Holiday Gifting

So what do you spend on corporate holiday gifts?  That’s a tough question in a tough economic climate.  Providing you haven’t just laid off a bunch of employees and times are tough but your company is pluggin along, I hope you are still gifting your clients this year.  I have mentioned in past posts that you should at least send a holiday card.  They are inexpensive and they go alot further than not acknowledging your customers at all.

The reason I did this post is Monday I got an email from a new customer asking for gift ideas under $3.00.  My first thought, was “Holy Crap gifts under $3.00?”  But then rationale clicked in and I realized that every company has a budget and at least they were giving something, which is far better than giving nothing.  Now this customer had no ideas of what they wanted to give.  She only had a budget.  I was given no direction, but needed to brainstorm ideas.  Now keeping in mind that I have 800,000 products to choose from…where was I to start.  She gave me quite a challenge, but I did manage to come up with quite a few ideas for her.  I was fairly proud of myself when all was said and done.  It’s not hard to find a marketing piece in that price range, but something that is considered a gift…well that was a bit harder.

So that left me to wonder - how much do you spend on your corporate holiday gifts?  Does every customer get a gift?  Do you have tiers, where customer that spend x amount with you get this gift and customers that spend y amount get that gift?  Do you base spending on a percent of what they spend with you?  Every company has a different method. 

When all is said and done, holiday gifts can be very high end or very inexpensive…the main idea is to build relationships with your current customer base, build goodwill and show appreciation.  It doesn’t really matter the amount you spend, just spend…the economy will thank you and in the end the repeat business will make it all worthwhile.

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Does the thought of finding the right holiday gifts for you customers scare you?  With a bit of imagination and some help from yours truly (no that’s not me in the picture) it doesn’t have to be a nightmare.

Being that today is Halloween, I thought I would take the fright out of holiday gifting by spotlighting a few products that are great for the holidays.  Ok it just wouldn’t be right if I didn’t start off with food gifts on Halloween, but these won’t leave your recipients with a big belly ache.  Did you know that food gifts are the #1 best selling holiday gift?  One of the reasons they are great is because people can share them with coworkers or family.  One of my favorite items is a combo of sweet and salty:  maybe some english toffee and cashews in a wood box with your imprint branded on the box.

Beyond food gifts there are so many great gift ideas, one favorite of some of my customes are USB drives.  You can now even get those in custom shapes.  I love gifts that people will use all the time, like bag chairs, you know the ones that people take to soccer games - not a bad way to advertise too.  Fleece blanket are fantastic this time of year, embroidered with your logo.  Stainless travel mugs are always a hit.  Lets not forget one of the most popular tech items…digital picture frames.

The key is to not get so caught up in decision making process that you don’t make a decision at all.  The holidays are the time to really let your customers know that you value them.  Choose a gift that you can be proud to give out that will leave a lasting impression.  We can make your gift giving more like a day at the beach than a creepy night at the graveyard.  Give us a call.  We’ll make your job easy and make you look like a million bucks.

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This will be just a quicky, but I did feel a need to address this topic.  The country is heading if not already in a recession.  Companies that have been long fixtures are gone.  House are being foreclosed upon.  People are losing jobs.  The stock market…well let’s not talk about that (I try not to even look at it right now).  Seems like a perfect time to tighten up the purse strings and not send those holiday gifts right?

Well in a cash crisis what appears to be the right decision is anything but.  If your business is still up and running, the most important thing to do (other than counting your blessings) is to make sure that you hold on to customers and employees.  When times are tough you have to pull out all stops.  I’ve mentioned in earlier posts that it is much easier to get business from current customers and much less expensive than trying to get new customers.  Make sure you are thanking those customers with even a small gift of appreciation.  It will go a long way to making sure that they want to continue to do business with you next year.

As for employees, they are the backbone of your organization.  It is so important to pat your employees on the back when they do a good job.  Did you know that many people are motivated by just being recognized for their efforts?  Did you know a pat on the back doesn’t cost a dime?  There are lots of free ways to give employees recognition.  It is also great to consider gifts if you have the budget.  You will find that the payoff is happy employees who love their job, which helps your business and profits grow.

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From now through November I will be posting holiday gifting ideas.  I am posting these to help you find great ideas to keep building relationships with your customers.  You know it is easier to get more business from current customers than to find new customers.  Thank your customers for their business it will really pay off in the end.

So the first gift idea I have for you is the simpliest and probably one of the least expensive things to do:  A card. 

It doesn’t get more simple than that.  They are inexpensive - you can send them to everyone even people who have not spent a lot of money with you.  There is very little effort involved.  Most cards can be imprinted with your company name, some with your logo, you can even get your return address imprinted on the envelope.  That just leaves addressing and mailing.  Pretty simple.

I have a whole holiday card website where you can pick your card, the verse you like, the imprinting etc…Until the end of September you can even get free return address imprinting on the envelope so take advantage of that by ordering now.

Quick tip:  Holiday cards do not have to be sent at Christmas.  If you want to stand out try a Thanksgiving card (Thanksgiving - thank you).  Another great time to send is New Years (you can wish your customer a successful 2009).

If you want even more personalized cards you can visit www.corpreferralpros.com.  At this site you can completely pesonalize cards.  Once you establish a license with me to use the system, you can upload your customer list, pick a card, write your own sentiment (even use your own handwriting), let the system send all your cards for you (No addressing or putting stamps on by you).  You can pick already created cards from the card catalog or even create your own custom cards.  If this interests you contact me and I will let you send a couple cards free if you want to try it out.

All in all it really doesn’t get any easier to thank your customers, build relationships and build more business.  It is as easy and simple as a card.

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There wasn’t much on tv last night.  I realize I should have been watching the democratic convention, but I have to admit I was in the mood for mindless entertainment.  Well good mindless entertainment is pretty slim pickins this time of year before the fall season starts and Tuesday night was no exception.

So with little to choose from, I ended up watching Million Dollar Listing.  Now I must confess this is not the first time I have watched this show, I have pretty much been watching all season.  Granted this isn’t emmy award winning television but desperate times call for desperate measures. 

If you have been reading my blog you have to kind of wonder where I am going with this.  Is Julie just feeling like ranting about the lack of good tv?  I normally gear most of my blogging to giving you marketing ideas.  Well this blog is really heading in that direction… just bear with me for one more minute. 

So I am watching these realtors selling multi-million dollar homes and I couldn’t help but notice that 2 of the 3 realtors gave a thank you gift to the client when they handed the keys over.  One gave a flowering plant, another give a large gift basket and of course the third did nothing really except for roll out the red carpet (literally) for client.  Granted, these 3 cheeseball realtors, sorry but if you have watched the show you know that I am not understating here, are making serious money and they seem to have the networking thing down pat.  What they are completely dropping the ball on, is the thank you gift.  A plant and a gift basket, oh let’s not forget the red carpet.  These guys have missed a perfect opportunity to give a gift that is useful, lasting and markets them.  They should have found a nice gift that they could imprint their logo on - something that the recipient will see over and over.  So when they need a realtor again, or a friend needs a recommendation the realtor’s name will be front and center. 

Do you thank your most valued customers?  If not you are missing an important opportunity to build relationships and get referrals.  At minimum you should be sending a thank you card.  If you can you should also be sending a gift.  That gift should not only be something that the recipient will use and appreciate, but that gift should continue to market you with your imprint on the gift.  You will be surprise at how much showing a bit of appreciation pays off. 

Of course, you know by now that I offer imprinted promotional items and gifts even thank you cards.  Feel free to call me for ideas or visit my website at www.cgpros.com.  We have everything you could need except possibly the red carpet :).

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