Who doesn’t enjoy receiving a thoughtful, useful gift? Just as in our personal lives, gift-giving can be a meaningful part of our professional life and business relationships. Below, we examine some of the reasons why we give gifts to clients, who should do the gifting, when and what we should gift, and how to do so graciously and with maximum impact.

To hear the recent EO 360° podcast about Giftology featuring EO St. Louis member John Ruhlin and read EO South Florida member Levi Pruss’ review of it, click here.

Why do we give gifts to our clients?

Gift-giving is an ideal way to build relationships with clients and to show that we care. After all, clients are the lifeblood of our companies; their patronage enables us to succeed. Sending a birthday, anniversary, thank-you or holiday gift is the right thing to do.

We can use gifts as gestures that communicate a multitude of sentiments to our clients, including gratitude, affirmation of a strong working relationship or simply, “You’re in our thoughts.”

Who should do the gifting?

The very nature of gift-giving is personal. It isn’t a task to be handed off to your marketing department. Rather, the person within the organization who enjoys the closest relationship with the client is the one who should be giving the gift. This person is the natural choice because he or she knows the client best, has the most contact with them and, therefore, is in a position to choose a thoughtful present that the client will value. (more…)