Business Gifts: The Key to Your Clients' Front Door, Referrals and More Sales on Other Side

If you wish to receive than you should first give. Sounds like it could be a wise proverb, but it certainly makes sense. In the business world you must earn trust and provide value to your customers or you won't have many. Once we have customers they become our most valuable assets for both continued business with them and referrals for new business. Showing our appreciation of them, offering solutions, useful tips and valuable information on a continuous basis is crucial. Everyone out there raise your hands if you receive lousy service from any companies you deal with either personally or professionally. I think everyone has a hand raised including mine.

How do you know if you provide great service? How many new orders are you missing out on? How many referrals should you have? These are all great rhetorical questions to ask ourselves regularly.

There's a good place to start to find the answers to these questions: gifts. Sincere gift giving often times brings down barriers or at the very least loosens up tension between two parties. Take the first step to give important clients gifts. They appreciate your creativity and it will set the tone to building a stronger bond and ultimately keeping them for a long time and obtaining referrals.

"I can't afford anything expensive and I need to find something they will like so it doesn't go to waste. What makes a good gift?"

Desserts and candy make great gifts especially in an office where snacks are not always easy to find, unless someone is willing to go out of their way to buy them, but I have some ideas that will allow your gifts to last throughout the year and give you the "key" to their door in order to speak with them regularly without feeling like a nuisance. How about unique gifts that keep on giving? Take a peek at the following ideas and then finally how to bring these ideas together to create more business.

1.Send your main contact a Cookie Jar to place in the office break room AND purchase a Cookie of the Month Club so each month they receive a new cookie surprise in the mail. The cookie jar becomes an icon of their break room and reminds them all year round of the goodies tucked hidden inside. You could also send this to the home of a well-connected and close client. And who will they have to thank- all year round?

2. Send your main contact a Cookie Jar to place in the office break room AND purchase a Cookie of the Month Club so each month they receive a new cookie surprise in the mail. The cookie jar becomes an icon of their break room and reminds them all year round of the goodies tucked hidden inside. You could also send this to the home of a well-connected and close client. And who will they have to thank- all year round?

3. Playing off the previous idea you could do a Fruit of the Month Club. These clubs offer high quality pieces of fruit better than what you normally buy in the store and provide some delicious and unique tropical selections that will delight your customers. Often times they're delivered in small crates or wooden baskets to add the effect they came right from the produce market.

4. Now let's take this a step further. Want to really blow your customers away with a surprise? Find out ahead of time of any personal or office parties. Order some picture or logo cookies online, or even some picture cookie cakes. If they're for an office party, make the staff laugh by getting the picture of the boss or manager (through someone other than the boss or manager). Have his/her picture morphed onto a picture of Santa Clause's head for a holiday party. Or if your clients' company has a mascot, have it's picture morphed onto the mascot's face. If your gift is for a personal party, like a Super Bowl party, then have the logo of the teams printed onto the cookies.

5. Keep in the loop about upcoming special occasion parties for your clients like birthdays, baby showers, anniversaries, their kids' birthdays, weddings and so on. Offer to supply the party with picture candy or cookies. Get permission to borrow their pictures and ask if you can personally deliver them yourself.

"So how can we get business from these ideas or create longer, stronger relationships with our clients?"

The gift is just the beginning. If you're lucky you will receive a nickname, like "The Cookie Gal" or "The Cookie Monster". They're certainly never forget you then. Your gracious notion allows you to do some of the following.

1. For the parties, others in attendance will certainly notice your thoughtfulness and creativity and ask what you do. They may even ask you personally if you're invited to stay. Exchange contact information and invite them to lunch to discuss business.

2. Ask to make a service call shortly after they receive their gifts in order to ask questions regarding their satisfaction and to offer solutions to their problems. Don't be afraid to receive negative news. Your job is to solve their problems. That's why they needed you in the first place. Actively do so and they will make more orders and give you referrals. Just don't forget to ask for the referrals.

3. It will be easier to make appointments strictly to ask for referrals. Call your main contact shortly after they receive their gifts.

4. It's also easier to ask them to call you. You will be the first on their list to call for any business fares taking place at their location or perhaps inform you of any they will attend. This will provide you with new opportunities to meet new prospects.

5. You can even network with them more easily. Ask if you could join any of your contact's networking clubs or be a guest speaker at a meeting or one of the company's special events.

You can attempt any of these ideas without giving gifts, but it will be much easier if you take the time to understand and get to know your clients better. They will respect and like you more. And it all starts with a gift.