Before you decide to purchase any business gift, be sure to check your company’s policies on gift’s way of giving. You need to do the same for the acceptance of executive gifts. Many companies have strict guidelines on gifting including a dollar value threshold under which they must be kept.
How do you decide what the appropriate business gift is?
First thing you need to do is to take into consideration the relationships. There is a difference between buying an executive gift to congratulate a buddy for moving into the new office, and buying it for a client or personal assistant. An executive gift that is too expensive could be misconstrued as currying favour with a client. Also it’s important to stay away from items that are too personal when buying for those who report to you, so be careful!
If you are a manager, sure you have an important client with whom you want to leave a great impression, start with choosing perfect business gift! Maybe you want to appreciate an employee from your team who’s doing an outstanding job? Or it’s just a holiday season and you want to thank the most important business associates for last year’s accomplishments, and to welcome New Year challenges with a perfect business gift.
Be polite, but not nosy!
Selecting the right business gift is really an important decision. When you know who your target is, you will know how to choose the right gift. It is important to have a small talk with all your clients. First, people love to talk about themselves and second, you can find out important things that will help you later on in developing strong relationships with your clients. And we all know that the secret of doing great business lays down in great relationships! Be polite, but not nosy! After every meeting, write down notes for important clients and create personal file for each! Things like: he likes Cuban cigars, or he likes to travel, she collects antiques, etc. anything that is personal and the (s) he talked about with much passion. It is also important to write down clothing trademarks that you saw wearing if you decide to go on a branded gift. When you choose the right brand, you win!
Personalized gifts – this is the most appreciated gift but also the most difficult to choose. This gift will show that you are taking this person seriously and that you have been listening to him/her all the time. If it is personalised, it doesn’t mean it is expensive. This gift could be a simple pen with the name of the person, or his pet’s name if pet is something he mentioned in every conversation. By choosing the right personalized gift you will strengthen the relationship with this person.
Traveller – if you are dealing with a world traveller, you cannot miss anything that would be connected to that! But still, you need to be careful because you are about to give a present to a person that is most likely to see every important and interesting part of the world and will be difficult to impress. You can choose from practical gifts, such as suitcase, nice leather, document wallet, branded foldable umbrellaa, or appropriate “world traveller” gifts like old world map! Be creative!
If you really don’t know in which category your client would be interested, you can start being creative! Think about books, football tickets, paintings, belts, etc ..
Be creative but safe!
You don’t need to spend much money, you just need to know who is your target and you will be able to find the right match for every client in a heartbeat! Good luck!