Corporate Christmas Gifts

[8IKERDAVE]

Looking for ideas really. I have 5 big clients I would like to buy a nice classy gift for this Christmas. I run a large format printing company and every year we have done customised this, customised that but it's got to the point where I feel we've done it to death a little. I would say budget would be around £100 per client at the most..

[Fonzey]

We normally get boxes of wine, as they can be divvied up and shared within an office (depending on size).

That said, last year we ended up keeping three of our five boxes because of 'anti-bribary' policies that have come in at some customers. Made for a pretty lairy Christmas for us.

[8IKERDAVE]

Fonzey said:

We normally get boxes of wine, as they can be divvied up and shared within an office (depending on size).

That said, last year we ended up keeping three of our five boxes because of 'anti-bribary' policies that have come in at some customers. Made for a pretty lairy Christmas for us.

Ha ha, like it! We did Wine last year, steamed all the labels off and printed our own for each client. It was a nice touch but it's been done now.

[HoHoHo]

8IKERDAVE said:

Fonzey said:

We normally get boxes of wine, as they can be divvied up and shared within an office (depending on size).

That said, last year we ended up keeping three of our five boxes because of 'anti-bribary' policies that have come in at some customers. Made for a pretty lairy Christmas for us.

Ha ha, like it! We did Wine last year, steamed all the labels off and printed our own for each client. It was a nice touch but it's been done now.

We have vineyards around our offices in West Sussex and have the sparkling wine manufactured from no more than 100 yards from our offices labelled with our own label and it always goes down well - like you been there and I'm not sure what to do this year (I still give some to those new clients who haven't had any before).

I'm also of the opinion a gift isn't always necessary, some clients have to make their company aware of any gifts and the BBC for example don't officially allow gifts.

[StevieBee]

Stopped doing client gifts 10 years ago and has not made the slightest bit of difference in client retention.

Instead, we do a christmas quiz. A nicely designed email sent out over 12 days each with a prize attached to each question. Prizes range from a bottle of plonk up to Smart TVs and the like. The budget is about half that we spent on gifts and the response is much much better.

[So]

8IKERDAVE said:

Looking for ideas really. I have 5 big clients I would like to buy a nice classy gift for this Christmas. I run a large format printing company and every year we have done customised this, customised that but it's got to the point where I feel we've done it to death a little. I would say budget would be around £100 per client at the most..

The one and only corporate gift that I still use is this.

The name has long since worn off, but I still remember the firm that gave it to me.

[ATV]

8IKERDAVE said:

Looking for ideas

I came to this forum to post this exact question so hope you don't mind me hijacking yours.

I'm actually considering giving Christmas gifts to our accountancy firm. They got us out of a bit of bother this year, due to some head-scratchingly simple stuff that got forgotten.

I've also got a great supplier who's area manager has given us fantastic deals over the years. Plus a solicitor's firm who've always been on the ball when we've needed them

I know it sounds a bit daft to give a gift to companies who already get paid by us, but sometimes I think the supply/advice side can be as important to a business as the customer/client side.

What do other pH'ers think? Does it come across as a bit lairy giving Christmas gifts to companies who invoice us anyway? Leading them to think, "well this idiot clear made a lot in the last financial year, let's bump his rates up."

And if anyone has any ideas, please let me know which company you use. Some of the people are teetotallers so need ideas away from alcohol. Thanks

[williaa68]

Everyone likes being thanked. It is surprisingly rare in the professional services industries (perhaps as the bills are so high).

[johnwilliams77]

ATV said:

I came to this forum to post this exact question so hope you don't mind me hijacking yours.

I'm actually considering giving Christmas gifts to our accountancy firm. They got us out of a bit of bother this year, due to some head-scratchingly simple stuff that got forgotten.

I've also got a great supplier who's area manager has given us fantastic deals over the years. Plus a solicitor's firm who've always been on the ball when we've needed them

I know it sounds a bit daft to give a gift to companies who already get paid by us, but sometimes I think the supply/advice side can be as important to a business as the customer/client side.

What do other pH'ers think? Does it come across as a bit lairy giving Christmas gifts to companies who invoice us anyway? Leading them to think, "well this idiot clear made a lot in the last financial year, let's bump his rates up."

And if anyone has any ideas, please let me know which company you use. Some of the people are teetotallers so need ideas away from alcohol. Thanks

I would do it - it's not much different to offering bonuses in contracts but in a nicer/softer way. A little can go a long way.

[pmanson]

We'll be sending out boxes of chocolates to our customers this year.

Hotel Chocolat are doing a chocolate wreath that looks like it would go down well at offices