Invest in Relationships, Reap the Rewards: Why Gifting is a Smart Business Move
Last year, I became obsessed with sending better gifts to my referral partners. I know I’ve been given gifts over the years and I started pondering the variety and impression it’s left on me. It’s really powerful stuff, especially in a pandemic where we aren’t physically seeing each other!
Studying the art of gift giving can be a bit tricky but I read a book called Giftology by John Ruhlin - he’s built up a company devoted to helping companies give amazing gifts to their clients, referrals partners, employees and more. Here’s a few of his tips that have stuck with me:
Make it about them - customize a gift with their name - not your business logo. How many times have you gotten a gift with someone’s logo on it? How much more would you like that gift if it had your name or logo on it?
Know the person you are gifting - what do they enjoy? Take time to get to know the person so you can send them something thoughtful. For example if someone knows me well, sending me something with Wonder Women on it (or even better Baby Yoda) is going to really delight me. It definitely gets folks attention.
Get something useful - the idea here is to get a gift someone can use again and again such as a high-quality travel mug. Other ideas can be blankets, phone cases, speakers, kitchen items and other useful gift options. It’s important that you know the receiver will enjoy the travel mug? Are they a big coffee or tea drinker?
Be careful with food, alcohol, and gift cards. They can be a nice gift however 1) they don’t have the power of repeat usage and disappear 2) Alcohol can be tricky, especially if the receiver might be in recovery or doesn’t like it. You never want to assume. 3) I heard this from a few people - sometimes having a gift card can stress people out and they don’t end up spending it. They end getting set aside and are never spent.
What kind of gift would you like to receive and would make you happy over and over? Have you gotten a gift you loved? Please share it, I’d love to hear it.
I’m excited to introduce a new webinar series I’ll be doing every 3rd Thursday at 11:30am PDT. This is a free 30 minute interactive training along with a free Q&A session, no strings attached. Register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/o/nedra-rezinas-11643845335
