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Halloween and Thanksgiving have come and gone. The new year is fast approaching — which means if you don’t have at least one snowman decoration or a secular holiday tree in your office, you are a veritable scrooge. The holidays are a big deal for most businesses: Not only do they usually provide a much-needed boost to sales and a healthy boost to staff morale, but if you swing your gift-giving right, they can also ensure another year of happy, loyal clients.
It is good form to offer your clients presents during the holiday season, but many new business leaders aren’t sure when, what, how, and to whom they should give gifts. This guide will walk you through the client gift-giving process, so you and your clients can be ho-ho-enthusiastic for another year of professional involvement.
Setting a Budget
Inside and outside the business realm, there is a tendency to compete when it comes to gift-giving. You want to show you care the most about your recipients, so you try to spend more on presents than your perceived competitors. However, inside and outside the business realm, this is destructive behavior. Especially if your business is young or only just turning a profit, overspending on holiday gifts can be a dangerous practice. Before you draw up a shopping list for your clients, you should consult your accounting records and devise a holiday budget.
Most etiquette experts agree that gift-giving is more about the quality of the gift than the cost of it. To that end, you should try to find meaningful gifts that lack high price tags. Small items or gestures that solve a client’s recurring problem or facilitate a known hobby show that you listen to and appreciate your clients individually but don’t typically require outrageous expenditures. You should also subtly research whether your clients are permitted to receive gifts and whether those gifts have a mandatory maximum value, which will inform your budget.
Determining a Recipient List
One of the best ways to keep holiday expenses low is to limit which clients receive gifts. To begin, you should include the client that makes up most of your revenue; then, you can add clients to your recipient list systematically, giving preference to those who make more purchases — or show promise for increasing their purchasing in the coming year. If your budget necessitates, you should not include clients who contributed minimally to your revenue or who do not show potential for long-term relationships. Some other reasons you may opt not to give a client a gift include:
Their project required too much time and effort compared to your pay.- They are exceedingly difficult to work with considering their relatively low compensations.
- You did not enjoy completing their project for some other reason.
- They did not pay on time or continue to be delinquent payers.
Holiday client gifts should be reserved for those clients you most appreciate and with whom you want to develop a lasting relationship. It can still be a good idea to get those you don’t see lasting with the company much longer a small gift as well. You’ll want to spread as much holiday cheer as possible.
Maintaining Professionalism
You should aim to give your clients personal gifts — but not too personal. Ultimately, you have a professional relationship with your clients, which means gifts often given to romantic partners or intimate friends — like jewelry, perfume or cologne, or clothing — should be off-limits.
Additionally, you should stifle the urge to give your business’s branded merchandise during the holidays. Promotional items are little more than advertising material, and making your clients feel like marketing vectors isn’t quite in the holiday spirit.
Finally, it is risky to offer gifts of food, alcohol, or tobacco to clients. The latter two vices aren’t universal, and giving a sober non-smoker booze and cigars is in poor taste. Food is hardly safer; there are too many food allergies and intolerances, and every person has their own taste preferences and dietary restrictions. Unless you know for certain that your clients would enjoy gifts of particular foods, alcohols, or tobacco products, you should refrain from choosing these to give.
Instead, you might consider giving your client an experience rather than an item. Tickets to a touring Broadway show, a private lecture from a professional speaker, a catered lunch with plenty of meal options, and similar access to unique events are often more memorable, exciting, and appreciated than an insincere gift card or charitable donation.
