Selecting the best or appropriate gift is never easy. It can be even more difficult when the gift is for business purposes. While gift giving is a great way to build and maintain your business relationships you will want to be sure your gift is well received, memorable and most importantly non-offensive.
It is always best to give a business gift for specific business reasons. These can include thanking customers for their past business or encouraging their future business.
When choosing the gift, consider:
Your company:
Does your company have a policy on corporate gifts? If so, learn what it is before giving anything away. Is there a suggested budget for these gifts and to which account do they get charged?
Your colleagues:
Is the client a personal client or a company client? Will anyone else in your company be sending a gift to a particular client? If so, you may want to co-ordinate the effort.
Your client's company:
Does your client have a policy on receiving gifts? Are individual employees entitled to accept gifts? Find out what your client's gift policy is and be sure you respect it.
Your client:
This is critical. If you are going to give your client a gift make sure it reflects that you have taken the time to know and understand him/her. Make sure if your gift is holiday oriented that you know which, if any, holiday your client celebrates.
The best gift for a client is one that reflects the taste of the person receiving the gift and is still appropriate for a business environment. Some suggestions of business gifts are books, desk accessories, donations to charity, travel accessories, food or gift baskets or tickets to a theatre or sporting events.
Don't forget there's a $25 per-year-per-person limit tax deduction on business gifts.
