Avoid These 9 Mistakes When Choosing Corporate Christmas Gifts This Season
Are You Making These 9 Mistakes When Ordering Corporate Holiday Gifts?
Austin, Texas: It is our favorite time of the year–the most wonderful time of the year.
Christmas songs are playing on the radio./ Decorations and Christmas trees are going up. Time for friends and family . Everyone is excited to wrap up their year.
And, time for Christmas gifts!
As nice as Christmas gifts and Holiday gifts are to give and receive, you can make Holiday gift giving easier and less stressful if you follow these 9 simple steps:
- Be sure your name is on the gift AND the package. I have seen Christmas gifts sit on a shelf for months after the Holiday has ended as someone puts the box on a shelf –thinking it is office supplies. Have festive packaging or mark the box: Happy Holidays for even more impact.
- Don’t wait until the last minute when delivering. Many of your intended recipients will be off the week of Christmas and some through the first week of January, so try to get your gifts to everyone no later than December 18th. This year, we had all our gifts delivered by November 20th and I received more “thank you” notes than previous years.
- Keep dimensional weight in mind if mailing out your Holiday gifts. For the past few years all major carriers changed their billing structure to dimensional weight rather than actual weight. That means large, lightweight but bulky items, like fleece blankets can cost more to ship than bluetooth speakers, headphones and power chargers. Don’t underestimate the freight cost when calculating best value for Christmas gifts.
- Consider having the gifts individually drop shipped for you. Many people do not consider the time and effort it takes to drop ship dozens of Holiday gifts to the correct recipients. Sometimes, it is less expensive to have the gifts drop shipped to each person’s office or home rather than to pay for a bulk shipment to your office, repackage, and then re-ship each gift. We have seen a 30% increase in the number of gifts that we have drop shipped directly to our client’s customers this year.
- Divide gifts into A-B-C accounts. Not all your customers are equal. Spread your budget by dividing your Holiday list into 3 categories–so more money can be spent on A Accounts, less on B and even less on C accounts. Each person will end up with a nice gift, but the support you show to your A accounts will have more impact.
- Avoid controversial gifts. Nothing tasteless, racy, off-colored, political, etc. Social media has a way of letting the whole world know about the gift you gave to somebody–whether or not the intent was private or not.
- Think about the recipients’ tastes–not your personal preference. Remember, the gifts are for your customer –not for you. Just because you want a new fishing pole, hunting knife, purse or golf clubs does not mean your customers are craving the same thing.
- There is no war on Christmas. Despite what Fox News says, there really is not a war on Christmas. If you say Happy Holidays—people still get your drift. Why offend when you don’t have to? In fact, the majority of the people you are giving gifts to may not even be religious at all.
- Be sensitive to all religions. See number #8. Not all your customers and employees are likely to be Christians — so be sensitive to their tastes. Happy Holidays. Season’s Greetings. If you stick with those, you will not offend. It goes back to #7–the Holiday gifts are for others–so despite your religious beliefs or leanings or lack thereof, be inclusive and make it a joyous occasion.
If you follow these 9 steps, you can make quite a lasting impact–whether the gifts are for clients, employees or volunteers.
Happy Holidays! Merry Christmas. Happy Hanukkah! Feliz Navidad!
…….and Happy and Healthy New Year!
