By Meredith Gossland
Corporate gift giving is a form of marketing, branding, customer service, and employee recognition that is time honored and can certainly help to create loyalty.
But, although it feels good to get a really great present! It can feel terrible to get a present that shows a lack of concern or consideration. This feeling is not followed by loyalty but instead, anger and resentment.
Corporate gift giving, more so than personal gift giving needs to be done with great care and with the recipient in mind. Who is getting the gift and what are they likely to think about the gift. It can make or break a client relationship, create a loyal employee or a disgruntled one. It can become an annual joke at your company at the company's expense. So what is the key to gift giving?
Personalization.
In a small company this can be fairly easy but as a company grows in size the tendency is to give the same gift to all. This can actually undermine the power of gift giving and undermine your purpose.
How can a larger company manage personalization of gift giving to optimize the effects of giving and increase the value of customers and employees? What needs to be considered when giving a gift?
First and most obvious is the economic level of the recipient. A $25 bottle of wine is not what a cash strapped father of 2 might need at Christmas time when he has to buy toys for his kids, a present for his wife, and needs to pay the electric bill. Would a gift card from Target be put to better use than the bottle of wine? If your client has spent $20,000 this past year at your company that bottle of wine is a slap in the face.
The second is the health of the recipient. Do you think your diabetic customer is going to rave about the basket of candy? Giving a bottle of wine to an alcoholic can be fatal, do you know the situation of all the recipients of these kinds of consumable gifts.
If you are giving a gift for marketing purposes and you want to remind the customer of your business consumable items are usually gone in a week or less and the memory is gone too! Giving gifts that are long lasting such as picture frames or annual passes to sporting events will increase the chance of your client remembering your kindness long after the gift is given.
Careful attention to your database and client and employee information can give you an edge when planning gift giving. Companies like Lasting Impressions 2 will keep and maintain client and employee lists with information about hobbies and interests, family size and past gifts given, to make each year a memorable one. Increasing your client and employee loyalty.
About the Author:
Meredith Gossland Owner of lastingimpressions2.com Ms Gossland specializes in corporate gifts and greetings. [ http://www.Lastingimpressions2.com
