Thank you for joining us today for the Select Business Team podcast as we talk about gift giving. I know your time is valuable and you have a lot of podcasts to choose from so we hope you’ll find a lot of value in today’s episode. Select Business Team brings business owners of service professions together to discuss the back office issues of running a business.

We help business owners look at areas of the business that increase profits.

My hope with every podcast is to get you thinking a little differently about how you operate your business. To not necessarily do what everyone else is doing but to find a way to stand out and be remembered. Be different, adapt to technology, create systems and make sure that you are making a profit.

When it comes to marketing, this is just as important. Since my core focus in business is referrals, the topic I’m discussing today really resonates with me.

When I sold insurance, this is something I did regularly. When I started Select Business Team, I did this a little bit but over the years, I’ve really gotten out of the habit. With this episode, I’m making a point to get back into it and make it a regular marketing tactic.
I’m talking about gift giving
Did you give gifts to your clients, to your strategic partners, to your prospects between Thanksgiving and New Years Eve?  If so, if you asked the person today what you gave them that they would remember?

My guess is they’d pause, run a few ideas around and maybe they’d guess correctly.  The real question is, WAS YOUR GIFT MEMORABLE?’ Was is something that jumped out at them? Something that they’ll remember in 2 months, In 2 years?

In today’s podcast, I want to talk about 4 areas of gift giving.

The first is promotional products or swag vs. personalized and customized gifts,
The second is why you are giving gifts,
The third is when you give gifts
We’ll finish up with some different strategies for getting business from gift giving.

If you like what you hear, please go to iTunes and leave a review.  If you aren’t sure how, check out our website at selectbizteam.com/makeitunesreview .  Or, check out the  resources section the show notes for this episode.

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Let's get this show started.
Separate from gifts, what types of swag or promotional items do you give away to clients, prospects and strategic partners? Are you giving pens, calendars, fruit or food baskets?  Logo’d apparel or items like measuring tapes, key chains or memo pads? A lot of companies do this and don’t really measure the results. They know they are suppose to do this. They hope it has an impact, but for the cost of the swag, was there a measurable return?

As I look around my own office, I have a small clock that has a picture frame attached. I’ve had it for years and it has the logo on it from the company that gave it to me. To be honest with you, I know think the company is a credit card company, but I don’t really know for sure. I also have a pad of sticky notes with another company. It has the name and logo and what they do but no contact info. It would be nice to have their number so I could easily call them. I like having the sticky note pad, but I’m not sure the branding would ever have me call them!

This is part of the thought process you want to go through when selecting and putting your logo on promotional products.
Here’s a Thought
What if you took the budget you have for promotional items and bought fewer gifts? But they are special and personalized to the recipient and are only delivered to a few people that would have the most impact.  And, you didn’t give them during the holiday season,