Gift Giving for Business a Major Headache
By Meredith Gossland
Corporate gifting is a big headache for most business
owners; how much to spend, who to spend the money on, where to get
the gifts, what to get and how to gauge the effect of that giving
in terms of benefits for the company are all important questions.
When a company decides to give gifts it needs to be
planned out as part of doing business, not just a last minute impulse.
The cost of gifting should be built in to the cost of your product
and used when evaluating your break even point.
With a plan for gifting as part of the cost of the
product you will never come up short in November or offend someone
by getting a gift for one employee but not another. Gifting in terms
of employees can be figured as a part of income, like a benefit.
You can even state that to your employees if it traslates
into giving bonuses or extra days off with pay. But not if you plan
to give birhtday presents. The bottom line is; gifting needs to be
planned, budgeted, and scheduled. When handled this way gift giving
stress evaporates.
1. Why are you going to give gifts?
a.) to ensure customer loyalty
b.) to build relationships
c.) to create an image
d.) to reward important customers
e.) as a marketing strategy
f.) to reduce employee turnover
g.) to reward employee performance
h.) to say thank you
i.) insure good service by vendors
j.) congratulations
k.) to create goodwill
Establish what each of these areas might mean in terms
of frequency. How often would you reward employees, how often would
you give a gift to a vendor? What benefit are you specifically looking
for?
Giving a gift to a vendor because he is always on
time will probably result in a continuation of that behaviour. If
your employee has brought you customers and referrals what are those
referrals worth, can you afford NOT to reward the employee for that
kind of enthusiasm?
Do not confuse discounts with gifting. They are not
the same thing! Unless you have a product that you know the recipient
really wants, don't give your products as gifts. It is seen as advertising
not as a gift!
Never use promotional products, with your company
name and web adress on it as gifts! These are viewed on an even lower
scale! People see them as leftovers from a trade show...that is NOT
a good thing!
3 solid rules for gifts!
1. Do not give perishables without a including a non
perishable item! Apples and popcorn will be gone and forgotten in
a matter of days! A beautiful picture frame will be on someones desk
for years to come, Reminding them of your thoughtfulness!
2. Think before you give... who are you giving to
and what is their lifestyle. A bookstore gift card may wind up being
sold at a discount on the internet or regifted if the person never
reads.
3. Always think quality rather than quantity. A single
$25 classic pen is much better than a cheap $25 stationary set with
a cheap diary, poor quality paper, pencil, eraser, and poorly printed
folder and a pen if the pen never works and the paper is so cheap
the person would be embarassed to use it.
Gift baskets are great, but once again remember that
food is gone in a week...you want to gift gifts that keep on giving
for months or even years. There are a few places such as Lasting Impressions
2 that provide custom gift baskets that include non perishable products
selected especially for the recipent.
For instance if you have a client that loves golf,
has 3 kids, drinks Starbuck's coffee, and wears glasses a custom basket
might include golf balls, a gift certificate for a family portrait
from a local photo studio, a starbucks commuter cup, and a trendy
glasses case.
That kind of gift will be remembered for years to
come. Instead of $150.00 of chocolates and coffee you have given a
very special gift that says you are an important client.
Customize your gift giving but maintain a standard
cost for gifting. For instance, maybe employee birthdays should be
limited to $10-$20 dollars and client gifts 5% of their annual value
in sales.
Only you can decide the dollar limits...every business
is different. If you own a 99 cent store you will not be giving your
stock boys trips to the Bahamas. By the same token, if you are a sucessful
doctor in Beverly Hills a $5.00 birthday gift for your nurse might
seem inappropriate and downright rude!
If all of this seems a little overwhelming remember
that once the plan is laid out and you have a vendor for your gifts,
year after year you can use the same plan or fine tune it depending
on how your business is doing.
But one thing is for cetain people will see you in
a positive light and the marketing power of good gift giving will
traslate into low turn over, and client loyalty and referrals.
Meredith Gossland is owner of Lasting Impressions
2 a small business marketing service provider. She can be reached
at info@lastingimpressions2.com
or at http://www.lastingimpressions2.com
