Expand your Business With Business Gifts

The idea of eliminating business gifts from your yearly agenda is like playing with fire.

We'll say that one more time: you're playing with fire if you decide not to spend on business gifts. It's the same thought expressed in different words.

Think of business gifts as grease money. It's the proverbial "you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours". In this particular context, the notion of grease money does not have to take on a negative tone. Just as you would nurture a loving relationship with a surprise gift every now and then, you'd ensure that your customers are kept happy by humble gestures of acknowledgement from your company. To survive in a competitive business environment, business gifts are an added tool to help you navigate the unsteady waters of any business relationship or alliance. And in some cases, they can even help you expand your business.

Here's why:

What Goes Around Comes Around

First, we firmly believe in what one mensch said to us one day: "you gotta spend money to make money." This is a beautiful approach because it echoes the principle that what goes around comes around. To give an example, if you give a business gift to an old customer, that old customer could mean one, two, or three new customers. Picture this scene:
1. Person A: That's a curious-looking memorabilia. Who gave it you?
2. Person B: XYZ Enterprises. I'm an old customer. They send me these gifts from time to time.
3. Person A: What do they do?
4. Person B: They sell software for graphic designers.
5. Person A: Hey, my graphic designers are complaining that their software is too antiquated. They want better tools to produce better layout. Maybe your guy can clue me into what's hot in the industry in terms of graphic design?
6. Person B: Sure thing. Here's his business card. Or do you want me to ask him to call you?
7. Person A: Nah, I'll call him right away. My need is urgent.
That's how it works. Before you know it, your company name has been passed around and before you know it, new customers are calling you.

Word of mouth, in our opinion, is the most powerful advertising medium there is. It's reliable and it acts like a live, honest-to-goodness testimonial, not a canned testimonial that was penned by a tired and weary copywriter.

Giving Back to the Community

Another way of expanding your business with business gifts is to sponsor a community event. During the event, you give last year's business gifts to every man, woman and child you meet. You're not only being generous, you're also advertising - again. So if a relative or a friend of one of those people happens to see your business gift with your company name and telephone number, that person may keep your contact details for future use - or else recommend you to another friend.

By giving, you start a chain. You hope the links in that chain don't come apart. Better yet, you hope the chain grows longer!