Gift Giving In Your Business

Since the holidays are just around the corner, in this week I thought we’d talk about giving gifts in your business.

The holidays are going to be here before you know it, and while I’ve talked about marketing during this time of year, we also need to look at a special part of the holiday season, gift giving. So let’s look at some ways to give to your clients and others in your business this holiday season.

For clients who haven’t been in for a while, you can stick with the usual holiday card. It’s an inexpensive way to reach out and share some of the holiday spirit. This is also a fantastic way to remind them about you, about taking care of themselves, maybe even buying gift certificates. You don’t necessarily want to make a card, that’s meant to be a simple festive gesture, into a sales pitch, but just seeing your name and business info again is often enough to remind them to book an appointment or that your gift certificates would make a great gift to someone they care about. You can either have some specially made and printed with your branding and business info, or simply get a pack of cards from a local store and send them out. Either way, be sure you write a personal message in each of them. It doesn’t have to be super specific or anything long and detailed, but something handwritten goes a long way. For example, I get a generic printed Christmas card from my local insurance agent. There’s nothing personalized about it whatsoever, and it goes right in the trash. It means nothing. If, however, someone would take the time to write some little something; a simple “thanks for your continued loyalty” or “thanks for trusting us with your insurance needs. Hope you have a great Christmas.” That would be awesome and would actually mean something, and make me feel a lot more of a personal connection with the business than some mass-mailing that’s sent out to everyone on a list on a corporate card.

Then you have clients who have come in recently and will continue to do so through the holidays. Some of these may be very loyal regulars and others may be newer clients you’re still feeling out, or those who come in a bit more sporadically and you’re not quite as close to. Then it might be a good idea to have kind of a two-tier gifting guide so to speak. So those who you aren’t as close with, they may get a little gift bag full of sample products or small items you can easily piece together. While those who are more loyal, who you’ve come to know a bit more, you may opt to go a more personal route here. It may be some typical spa type stuff, like foot and body scrubs, essential oils, candles, self-care tools, things like that. Or something totally unique to them. For example, I had several really loyal, consistent clients that I would buy personal gifts for. They were added on my list just like any other friend or family member. I had one client who loved hot tea of all kinds. So her gift one year was a variety pack of loose leaf teas, and a tea infuser along with a cute little mug and a book I had told her about that she said she really wanted to read. Another client loved a certain college football team so I got him a bag full of all kinds of decals and a tumbler and a few other things with their logo on it. Make it personal to them just like you would anyone else on your list.

The same went for my landlord and a couple vendors and contractors that I worked with on a regular basis. Most of us usually think specifically of giving gifts to clients during this time, right? And while that’s a big part of it, we don’t want to forget about employees, renters, vendors, and anyone else you regularly interact with in your business life.

Now obviously you don’t need to be going with some crazy high budget for all this; you have to do what’s right for you and your business and your bank account, so keep a wrap on some things. Come up with your total budget and figure out what you can afford to spend on those loyal clients and regular vendors, those not-so-regular clients, and those random ones you hope will come back in again soon. What gifts can you fit into that budget?

So what are your plans for gift giving in your business this year?