Corporate Gifts – Charity or a Good Business Plan

The mechanism of giving corporate gifts may have surprising consequence:

- Improving employee goodwill and productivity

- Improving relationships with government agencies

- Increasing awareness among prospective customers

-Improving relationships with and improving loyalty of customers

- Fostering good relationships with the press - Improving the service level of suppliers

Contrary to awards and incentives, which are conditional on merit of future performance, company gifts are often provided, expecting little in return other than better relationships with the recipients.  The compensations are a little harder to calibrate but will nearly always be comprehended, often with very positive net profits.  When you or your business are perceived in a more positive light, and when the main players feel like they are recognized, then productivity, service, and loyalty go up.  More benefits may include mores sales, and higher profitability.

Even if your intentions are purely big-hearted - for example, donating a holiday gift just because “you wanted to spread some light”, appropriate corporate gift giving produces a positive ROI. 

The most compelling gifts, with the highest ROI (in terms of increased relationships), are those that give emotional value beyond retail value of the gifts.  In fact,  the best gifts have a very small dollar value, but create strong positive emotions that make them very impactful.

Just think of the goodwill generated by the business supplying a Christmas turkey or ham.   Even flowers on an employees birthday can cost very little but creates goodwill throughout the entire office work force.

It is often difficult buying gifts for men when you do not know them too well. It can say a lot about what you think of them. If you get something that is intellectually based such as a New York best-selling novel, the sports jock will clearly know that you know very little about him. If you get a subscription to Sports Illustrated, the budding classical pianist may also question how well you know them.

When considering baby shower gifts you need to see the long term child's view AND the mother's. Rather than have your gift relegated to some crowded drawer space, take the time to see that it takes pride of place, long-term. Silver spoons and rattles may be cute for the first year or so, however the teenager will not want that gift prominently displayed when their friends come around.

There are so many choices when it comes to wedding gifts and it is so easy to get it wrong. The major issue with this is that all the presents are put on common display at the time of the wedding to show all the relatives what the gifts were. If your present is the WRONG one, everyone that knows the couple also know your faux pas!

Long term, it is important to carefully select groomsmen gifts since these are probably the best man's closest buddies and may influence them longer than many marriages. The groomsmen are often the most prominent characters at the AFTER-marriage ceremonies when people let their hair down. If your present has any 'quirks' then it will probably be heard about over the PA system at some time in the late-night proceedings! Buying anniversary gifts can be a very delicate scenario since it reflects what YOU think about that anniversary. Take the time to get it right! Gifts that are light-hearted and trivial would obviously be the wrong ones to commemorate the passing of a loved one, yet may be the exact right one to commemorate the first occasion you met someone.