- bpcreative2014
5 Ways To Spearhead Client & Customer Gift Giving
Have you ever had, what you considered to be, the perfect gift picked out for your client only to be disappointed by their reaction after presenting it? Don’t worry, this happens to plenty of other people far too often. As a matter of fact you, purchasing managers and executives may often feel at a loss when it comes to choosing corporate and client gifts. We want to offer our advice on how to spearhead your client gift giving efforts.
Missing the target on a corporate or client gift can be damaging to your business-to-client relationship, which can have massive impacts on future business opportunities. Don’t fret, anyone can perfect the process of choosing corporate and client gifts. All it takes is a little dedication and research.
Be sure to come out on top with these five ways to spearhead client gift giving:
Engineer a positive atmosphere. It doesn’t matter the size of client or how often you have face-to-face interactions, a gift can serve as a top of the line experience for the recipient to have with your brand. What are the gifts that will create a positive experience and atmosphere that they have not had before? Create unique gifts. Do research on past gifts. It is more about the experience they feel than the gift that is given.
Yearlong giving. Everyone expects to get gifts during the holiday season. Why not offer your clients gifts on dates that matter to them i.e. business anniversaries or milestones etc.. It might be worth your time to create a gift giving “plan of unpredictability.” Clients respond very well to this style of gift giving. It shows thoughtfulness, appreciation and genuine care for what they are doing as a business. Act when your client is not expecting it.
Target client’s “inner circle.” We all plan on giving gifts to managers, directors and c-suite executives. But what about their assistants, families and friends. Sadly these people are often overlooked. Take the time to discover what kinds of gifts these people would enjoy and remember. Make these gift personalized leaving no doubt that they are not receiving these gifts on accident. When it comes time to make business decisions, your business will have a leg up on the people the decision makers trust the most.
Take care of clients’ tribes. To discover what a “tribe” is look no further than bestselling author Seth Godin. Identify who your clients work with and create gift giving opportunities for them as well. These could be the IT teams, Sales teams, Marketing teams or other integral parts of their organizations. These groups are often overlooked and not appreciated, hence by sending them useful and tailored gifts, you show that they are just as appreciated for the work they are doing to make your clients’ company successful.
Don’t overthink things. If you are giving client’s gifts they receive all the time, how do you expect to stay top-of-mind? Be creative with your gift giving but DON’T overthink things. With a little research and dedication, finding a gift that will strike a chord with your client is not a hard thing to accomplish. The more simple the gift, the better.
These five ways to spearhead client gift giving are simply designed as a starting point. Use them to establish a culture of gift giving that ultimately does two things; shows genuine appreciation, two creates future business opportunities to grow the bottom line and strengthen your client relationship.