Whether you’re promoting your company at a trade show or looking to motivate your employees with giveaways, corporate gifts are a proven way of getting a person’s attention. The following summarizes your corporate gift options.
Corporations may purchase corporate gifts for a variety of reasons, and the type of gift will largely depend upon the occasion. The gift may be a small token or a gift that denotes a great deal of appreciation or gratitude. Some companies even go to the trouble to purchase small token corporate gifts for their customers and/or employees for Christmas or other notable occasions throughout the year (i.e., Customer Appreciation Day, Employee Appreciation Day, etc.).
The purchase of corporate gifts is not customarily a task that is completed within the department doing the giving unless it is a small company. Even if the endowment is coming from the sales staff, for example, the gifts customarily are ordered through either the purchasing or accounts payable department, who will bid the project or choose from a list of selected vendors. After all, when you are purchasing a large number of corporate gifts, you want to pay the lowest price that is available, and only by contracting with various sellers of these type products will you receive that.
Corporate gifts range from the small token pen with the company logo, personalized calendar book, tee shirt, jacket, and tote bag to even a diamond watch with your initials engraved in it. The more elaborate the occasion, the more elaborate the gift. It also makes sense that if the gifts are to celebrate the sales volume for that year, the gift will stand side by side with the volume of sales. Each gift will stand on its own, contingent upon the reason for the gift and the financial condition of the company at the time the recipient receives the gift.
Retirement is probably the most well known corporate gift, and for many companies, this amounts to the giving of a diamond watch, often with the employee’s initials engraved on the back. The company may also reward an employee for long years of service, customarily over 25 years, though some companies may wait for 30 years. At these levels, the diamond watch and sometimes a desk set with a pen and pencil seem to be the normal gifts of the day. Oftentimes, these two gifts are combined when someone retires with a great deal of service time or when someone is part of upper management.
Companies may also offer service awards at various times throughout an employee’s career with the company. With these awards, what sometimes happens is an employee is given a brochure or list of gifts from which to choose from based on service time. Some companies may also include a certificate with the gift, and instead of a corporate gift, a gift card may be given instead, allowing the employee to choose from a variety of gifts, or perhaps downloads to an ipod, free cell phone minutes, or other merchandise that the company has chosen.
For many companies, the first five years of service provide little more than a pen with the company logo or maybe a tote bag, but the longer you remain with the company, the more upscale the gifts become. Each company is different in what level of service longevity the corporate gifts fall, but there is no denying the fact that the service time is directly related to the monetary value of the corporate gifts that a company gives to its employees.
The giving of corporate gifts proves to be a beneficial act for the corporation or gift giver as well as the recipient. First, the corporation will improve the overall atmosphere of the office; rewarded employees work harder for their employers because they know that their work is acknowledged. Second, the employee gains a sense of pride at the recognition they have received for their hard work. A simple act like that of giving corporate gifts can promote a healthier and happier atmosphere conducive to a proficient and efficient work environment.
Another type of corporate gift that a company may give to employees is for attendance. In most cases, this means perfect attendance, not including vacation and pre-scheduled medical or personal days. This area seems to be a major one for the distribution of corporate gifts, and it’s easy to understand the reasoning, since lost time means lost money for the employer, especially if the job is a critical one. Certainly, if you work in customer service, and there are several other people who can shoulder the load while you are out, there is not a major issue of conflict. On the other hand, if you work in sales, and each sales representative is assigned certain customers, your absence means that those customers will have to wait until you return to meet their needs, or in the case of a longer absence, other employees will need to service your customers as well as their own.
Incentive bonuses for a job well done also tend to be a part of corporate gifts by the majority of companies. The higher your quota in comparison to the department standard, the better it is going to look for your department and you as a part of it. In addition, the more you produce in both quantity and quality, the more profits the company is going to make, and you should be duly rewarded for your effort. For example, in the sales department, the sales manager may set a goal of $50,000 in sales per month for each sales representative, and if you meet or exceed that goal, you deserve recognition. Your contribution in meeting both the personal sales goal and that of the department helps the company grow in profitability.
Probably the single most extensive use of corporate gifts is at trade shows and job fairs, where companies are attempting to draw in new customers or employees. It has long been a custom at trade shows to “reward” visitors to the table with a token of appreciation in the form of a pen, pendant, personalized note pad, or some other kind of token of appreciation. In addition, a business card of the person representing the company is part of the package. Some companies even put together gift bags that may include a pen, personalized note pad, and even a small clock that fits on a computer. These items are usually placed in a plastic bag that bears the name of the participating company.
Job fairs may be a little upper end with the corporate gifts, because the company is attempting to make an impression on the attendees in an effort to draw some fresh blood into the company. At a job fair, you are likely to find a very nicely presented portfolio that includes a business card, company history, quarterly report, pen, tote bag, and perhaps even a specially designed mug or insulated cup holder. No matter what you may have heard negatively about that company, it will not be obvious as you browse their table at the job fair. Their corporate gifts speak of a company that has the utmost respect and compassion for those in its employ, and unless you know otherwise, you will be taken in by the charm that is exuberated.
While in the past, corporate gifts were seldom displayed at either job fairs or trade shows, the competition is so extensive on both sides of the scope that companies have to resort to many creative methods for drawing in both customers and employees.
An important part of obtaining new business involves the use of sales presentations and advertising campaigns. The two types of sales promotional tools are important for drawing out those who are not quite sure about using the products or services that a company sells, so you want to reach out to those people and convince them that you can do better than the vendor with whom they are now working. Certainly, you are going to provide promotional materials in the way of samples of some of your products or services, but in today’s competitive market, you need to go beyond product samples in order to gain the interest of potential new customers.
Promotional materials have to include more than just history of the company and other kinds of minor tidbits of information to interest a potential new customer. You have to be able to show the customer that you really care about them and the potential that exists from making them a customer. Nothing is more tantalizing to a potential customer than a corporate gift that screams of pride and dedication. Allow your choice of gift to speak for you, and make it equivalent to the desire you have to acquire a new customer. In other words, if you are trying to entice a million dollar account to leave a competitor and allow you to service his account, let your choice of gift say that.
Corporate gifts should speak for the giver and say the things that there might not be time to say during or after the presentation. You want to grab the person’s attention, and the best way to do that is by giving them something to take home with them as a reminder that they should contact your company and discuss your mutual goals and expectations in regards to a business relationship.
The type of gifts you choose to give as awards or promotional invitations do not necessarily have to be tangible gifts. You may choose to include tickets to a sports event, gift certificates to popular stores or malls, movie tickets, meal tickets, mini-vacations (such as a weekend at a popular resort), and anything else that may spark their interest and your company’s budget at a precise moment. If your purpose is to gain new business, and you know the purchasing agent is a sports fan of a team that is soon playing in his area, offer to take him to the game and a dinner afterwards to discuss business. Perhaps you know of a sad or happy event that occurred within his family; you can take this time to acknowledge the event with a floral arrangement or fruit basket.
Corporate gifts do not have to come from a vendor or in the form of watches, rings, tee shirts, jackets, or anything else so tangible for the recipient to recognize your effort. In fact, something out of the ordinary, as mentioned above, will catch the eye of the recipient much quicker because it was not expected. In addition, they will know that you took some extra time to think about the gift that you gave, since you were aware of that special or sad event in their life. Remember, no one ever expects the unexpected, so if you make it a point to do something that is out of the ordinary, you will be greatly rewarded in your future business endeavours. It’s important to build rapport with those with whom you wish to form a good working relationship, and there is no better way to do that than with a gift of recognition for a family event.
Not only is the purchase of an elaborate gift unnecessary, it will likely not accomplish the goal that you seek. The reason that it will likely fail is that the recipient will recognize what you are trying to do, will accept the gift, but will not do what you had expected. In other words, you are soliciting a new client, so you feel you can impress him by paying for his transportation (bus, train, plane), putting him up in a five-star hotel, all expenses paid, providing a rental car for his stay, and three meals a day in the best restaurants money can buy. Too much luxury in the way of corporate gifts with the intent to recruit or retain clients or customers is noticeable. You want to be subtle in your approach and not let on what you are doing.
What is involved with a subtle approach to gaining or maintaining a customer? It’s the little efforts that will be noticed: birthday or anniversary card, congratulatory cards, and acknowledgement of important events. You don’t want to overdo these efforts, and thus have your relationship with the person damaged as they begin to see you as being “harassing,” or they read into what you are attempting to do. This doesn’t mean they won’t have an idea, but you want to keep it low key so that your subtle attempts at building or maintaining a business relationship will provide the rewards you seek. Highly elaborate corporate gifts will be seen as pushy and demanding, and thus, will have the opposite effect on the person you are trying to impress. That is the last thing that you want to do.
You want to choose gifts that are appropriate for the occasion. Small gifts for the awards and trade shows and more spectacular gifts for the retirement party and acquisition of a large monetary account are the best choices. In the case of a trade show or job fair, you want to get a feel before you order anything what the other companies will be doing, and the best way to do this is by doing it on a small scale for your first show and observing what other vendors do. Another way to do this is by attending the events as a guest before you sponsor or attend one for your company, in order to find out what other companies are doing, and the kind of token gifts they are giving. By knowing what the others are doing, you will be able to determine what you want to do, and if you want to do something just a little better, you know what to do without overdoing it.
An example of overdoing a gift would be to attend a trade show and discover that the other attendees are giving out pens, mugs, and tote bags, but you want to make your display more impressive, so you decide that you will give a pen watch instead of just a pen. It is assured that you will draw more people to your booth because they will be interested in your gift, but whether you will accomplish the real purpose in paying for the booth remains to be seen. Do not try to outdo everyone else at the trade shows or job fairs, but rather stay in line with the competition and make your display impressive not with gifts, but with the way you represent your company.
Corporate gifts can be a great sales and recruiting tool in the right place. However, one must remember that the goal of the gifts is not to impress the recipient with something elaborate and costly, but to get your point across in such a way that your prospect is interested in hearing more of what you have to say. This holds true not just for prospective customers and present customers, but also for new employment recruits as well. After all, having good employees is just as vital to the business of your company as is having a constant flow of new customers.
Your corporate gifts should address not just new customers, but with the intention of maintaining the old ones as well. Christmas cards with a token gift such as a Christmas ornament to adorn the office tree are invaluable gifts, or if you know that the company celebrates in a different way, acknowledge that as well. In other words, if you know the company president is Jewish, and the company celebrates Hanukkah instead of Christmas, your acknowledgement of that tradition will keep you in good favour with that company.
Matching the corporate gifts that you purchase with the personality and/or the preferences of the recipient makes the gift one that is truly appreciated. By acknowledging someone’s likes and preferences, you will let that individual know that you really are paying attention to what the individual cares about and you will convey a caring attitude with your selected corporate gifts. Personalized corporate gifts become reminders that an employee or a customer is interacting with a company that really cares about the individuals they come in contact with.
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