Choosing a Top-Notch Corporate Gift Item

The kind of corporate gift that you will give can either turn the table in your favor or bounce back to you in a negative way. In other words, giving a corporate give can either make or break any of your intention or attempt to make a good relationship since the gift itself represents your name and your company. This says that it is very important to carefully choose what type of corporate gift item you should give. So, what should you do then? How to choose a corporate gift item to a particular person?

For some, choosing a corporate gift item is not easy but knowing the things to consider in the selection process, you can make this an entirely enjoyable task. 

Ask yourself, who will receive the gift? 

Whether the gift is for your boss, a business partner or a client, there is one thing you have to bear in mind: the QUALITY of the gift. Food, wine, cigars, office decors, personal accessories, collection piece, and other corporate gift you can think of should be accentuated with the topmost quality. If it is a thing, then it should be a crafted in "perfection." If it is food, it should be the best you can find. The thing is, there is a lot at stake when you present a corporate gift to someone, and the price should not matter since you have a certain and bigger intention why give corporate gift. 

Speaking of the price, the next thing you should know consider is the brand. Known manufacturers can easily convey the price of the gift. Recognizable brand names can easily attract attention. This is important especially if the person that will receive the gift will be receiving many gifts on the same day. Your gift should be remembered and should be a stand out.  

The type of corporate gift item should be the next thing you consider. Is it something that can be displayed or used? Is the item related to his or her interest? Is the item related to his work?

A gift item that can be displayed or used is okay but one misjudgment on the type of item you have to buy can result to something bad. If you are choosing an office display, then you must know how his office looks like. Ask this: "What particular office item does he/she lack?" Making sure that you know the answer to this question will result in picking the perfect corporate gift item for him/her. Try to look around in his/her office and spot a place where your gift can perfectly fit in. 

Any person would appreciate when he or she receives something that sparks his or her interest. For example, your boss or your business partner loves cigars. Think of something that he or she can use together with his or her cigar. It can be a cigar lighter, leather cigar case, or a box of cigar from the best brand you can find. For someone who likes to collect watches, you can consider a leather watch case or another watch to add his or her collection. 

Sometimes, it is better not to give a corporate gift that is related to work. 

So, does choosing a top-notch corporate gift item equate choosing something with a high tag price? Of course! Corporate gift is an investment on relationship so it should better be excellent or not give anything at all. 

Worst Corporate Gift Idea

The worst wedding gift of all time may be toasters. You know that very well, right? But what is the worst corporate gift? Don’t know the answer? Well, you may need to read on this article so that you would save yourself from shame and save the recipient from curl eyebrows.

The useless item. Clueless on the interest of your boss or your client (suppose the recipient is a male), you head on several stores featuring "items that men like." After several minutes you finally grab the best item you could ever find: the most expensive boxing gloves! Guess what? Your boss hates the sport.

Instructional tapes and videos. Even if you know that the recipient of the gift is a big fan of Yoga or Pilates or any exercise you see on instructional tapes and videos, it is not advisable to give him or her such gifts. Why? You are not sure that that tapes you are giving is not on his collection. He or she may thank you but you are just wasting your money. 

Items "seen on TV!" Ah! Yes, you have seen the George Foreman Grill or the Magic Chef and you want to give one to your client or boss. But what if he hates boxing and grilling, and sports and cooking in general? What if he has already a George Foreman Grill or the Magic Chef? It is easy to call those numbers on your screen but it is hard to tell if the recipient has it or not... or will love it or not. 

As cheap a rock. A $5 dollar bill may take you somewhere but it will not certainly provide you much of a choice when thinking of corporate gift. Sure, you may get something out of it but would you think the recipient would be happy for it?

Apparel. Unless it is a $100 necktie, you might as well find something else. A coat could cost to too much. Yes, you may want to impress the recipient, but do you know exactly his size? Do you think the recipient will wear it? Do you really know that he likes the color or the type of clothing you will give? There is no problem with giving apparel or clothing; that is if you live with the recipient. But since it is a corporate gift, it is kind of awkward site when your boss wears a coat or a sweater you give. A necktie would be okay since it can be discreetly hidden under his coat but still it is a risk you have to take. Better yet, give a gift certificate or gift voucher. 

Langerie. Lingerie? As a corporate gift? Okay, you are single and she (your client or your co-worker) is single as well… You are so temped to buy her lingerie... Stop right there because you can put yourself in deep trouble if you continue. Have you ever heard about the term, "harassment?" Be careful. 

Handmade gift. So you want your gift to have your personal touch? Or you want to save some money with the gift you will give? Whether you are super talented or have all the time in the world to make the gift on your own, it is never advisable to do it. Why? Two reasons: One, you will end up spending too much on materials and tools than by buying a ready-made on the store, and two, you will end up giving up your sleep in exchange to finishing the gift.

A thoughtless thoughtfulness. Chocolate or gourmet gift basket is so tempting but if the recipient is diabetic, then would you think he or she will be touched or will ever be thankful on what you have given? Or you have decided to give a book on "how to lose weight' or "how to become successful" to your colleague. Even though your intentions are pure and your conscience is clean, you stay away from these kinds of gifts.

Corporate Gift: Do's and Don'ts of Client Gift Giving

Do make a plan – Corporate gift giving is not purely on running at the department store or shopping online, wrapping gifts, and giving it to your client. It should be planned and carefully worked out. Corporate gift is an investment both on money and relationship; making sure that every gift that you give to each of your client will make sure that what you have invested will bring you better returns.

Do send different gifts – If you have stable clients for years, make sure that they receive a different type of gift each year; just to give them something to look forward to. An exciting gift is remembered as well as the company that sends it. 

Do check on the things that interest your clients – Each person has his or her own tickle spot. If you are able to hit that spot with the right gift, them you might have already achieved your goal for gift giving as well. Check on the things that interest your client to make sure that you are actually giving the right gift. You may call your clients or check on their wish list so that you have better idea on what to give. 

Do the delivery yourself – A person that frees himself just to give the gift personally can be very much appreciated by the intended receiver. 

Do consider that the gift is the representation of your company. – Since investing on corporate gift is the way to keep clients loyal to your company and the services it offers, the right corporate gift can turn out to be a good means to increase revenue on the following years. Thus, image is very important. Choose a gift that is of high quality but does not ruin your budget. 

Don'ts:

Don't go with the popular – Wall clocks, alarm clocks, ball pens, paper weights, coffee mugs, etc… these items, even if they cost $100 each are still worthless because your client has at least one of them already, either at home or at the office. Stay away from these common corporate gift items. 

Don’t overlook cultural differences – If you are going to send a corporate gift to someone with different nationality, make sure that the item you are giving is not against his or her culture, belief or tradition. Items that do not mean anything to you may be offensive to the receiver so be careful on the items you are planning to give as a gift.

Don’t send gifts to former clients – You may not intend to send different message but sending gifts to former clients may give the impression that you are attempting to win back their loyalty.

Don’t forget the assistants – Your client's assistant is the next person you want to build good relations with, so make an effort to send him or her something he or she would appreciate. It may be a small thing for you but for your client's assistant, a thought of being remembered is a big thing.

Don’t expect something in return – If you give a client a gift, do not expect him or her to reciprocate the favor. However, it is a good gesture to send a thank you card if you happen to receive something from someone. 

Advantages of Giving Corporate Gift Cards

Among the many considerations in businesses is the maintenance of good relation with the clients, employees and customers. This way, you will be able to lengthen transaction so that you will profit more on the customer and the customer in retain will have more of your goods and services.

Undoubtedly, the benefits of sending people gifts can never be underestimated. While giving corporate gifts is an expression of gratitude for mutual benefits in a business, it is also a way of marketing your company. It may either be that your company is just trying to lay more solid foundations on relationships or its just promoting good working relationship to its prospects. However, corporate gifts are also used to build company spirit and to reward its people for their achievements.

Although gift cards are usually given as part of incentive plans for employees, it can now also be used as corporate gifts. Due to the stresses and the natural difficulties encountered during the selection of corporate gifts, companies have now switched to giving the options to their employees and recipients by sending them corporate gift cards and other similar options.

This is a much better idea than giving them pre-packaged gifts that are usually seen in the market these days. While corporate gift cards are not the perfect gifts, it is certainly a good idea since it stretches the personal options of the recipients. 

Everyday corporate settings are pretty hectic and it is likely that you would overlook your planned gift for your employees and clients due to the daily hustle and bustle. Good thing there are lots of choices now that can be given as corporate gifts. For your last minute choices, here are the following options you can look into:

Gifts cards are much like gift certificates, only they are presented as plastic cards. These may either have fixed values or assigned to multi-level values. The latter can be used partly while the remaining balance or value can be used sometime later.

This practically is one of the many "best-sellers" in the gift-giving world. While gift cards can be assigned only to specific stores and merchants, these still allow much flexibility on the recipients of the gift cards since they would have the option to choose what they want depending on the value as provided in the card. 

Corporate gift cards come in many types. The most common though is the reloadable option where the card holder can use the same card over and over again so long as the company continues to add value to the card. 

A number of corporate gift cards can hold major credit cards like MasterCard or VISA. Others are more merchant-specific which only allows the user to buy from certain stores and outlets. These are certainly less expensive than the multi-value cards.

Since trends are moving online these days, consider also giving your clients and employees online corporate gift cards. With much diverse choices, they are sure to find one that would suit the value of their cards.

Aside from what we have mentioned earlier, corporate gift cards are excellent choice of gifts basically because you give freedom to your employees as to what choices they can make. Its more formal than cash cards and is more convenient than gift certificates. Thus you make both worlds meet by simply putting your gifts within a plastic card.

Why Go for Corporate Gift Baskets Online

Gift baskets are among the most common corporate gifts and yet, these never loose their value and still can make people smile as they receive one. 

Corporate gift baskets are good ways to express your gratitude or as awards to special achievements to clients, customers, workers and employees. During holidays though, corporate gift baskets are usually given to everyone in line with the spirit of the events.

Corporate gift baskets can contain anything from collections of wine to cheese and favorite stuffs of the recipient like key chains, neckties, elegant pens with matching pen holders, sunglasses and others. There are sure to be a variety of choices that you can have to make your employees ad clients think of you kindly even long after the contents of the corporate gift baskets are empty.

However, choosing what to give for a corporate gift basket is somewhat confusing and truly needs some thought. Often, the preferences of the recipients should be well regarded as well as fitting your choices of items into the budget you have set for them. While it is often relieving to give something out, the stresses of searching and matching things often make planning eat your time.

Good thing, there are suppliers of corporate gift baskets online that could help you out with your basic problems of looking for perfect gifts, packaging these gifts and sending these gifts to their proper receivers. 

One of the many conveniences of availing corporate gift baskets online is that you needed not risk over wrong choices. Often, when we got tired of the search for perfect gifts, we tend to settle on the last gift we see after a long day. This is often the case but it should not be habitually done though. Sadly, for most of us this is the truth.

Buying corporate gifts online can give you a multitude of choices at one glance while not having to spend hours of searching only to spoil this time for a gift that wasn’t worth the search. It is not only comfortable to search through the net for an online corporate gift but it's also comparatively much cheaper than dedicating a day out.

Like with retail stores, offers for online corporate gift baskets include the option of customizing the contents of the gift. This way, you will be given the convenience of adding personal touches on your choice of gifts. The risk with this though is that you have to know the person personally and you must be knowledgeable enough of what his preferences are. 

There are various types of corporate gift baskets you can choose from. Gourmet and traditional fruit corporate gift basket for example are relatively low priced while providing the touches of being attractive. The best time of the year to give these selections of items is during holidays. 

Other selections include baby corporate gift baskets, wine gift baskets, selections of pen baskets, luxury gift baskets and others. 

Choices for items are usually presented through online catalogs. 

After choosing your items for corporate gift baskets online, you can place your order and choose the configuration depending on the options given by the merchant. Aside from the basic costs of the items, extra charges will be carried over to answer for the shipment costs and handling. 

Top Corporate Gift Basket to Choose From

Saying "thank you" to a client or a boss has never been so thoughtful these days with the popularity of corporate gift baskets. And with lots of different themes to choose from, corporate gift basket is probably the best gift you can offer. 

Here are some of the popular corporate gift baskets made for you:

Chocolate goodies gift basket

A basket of sweets are good, but a basket of chocolates is even better! There is something magical with chocolates that so many people love to receive even a bar of it. What more if the chocolates are in one basket? Chocolate goodies as a corporate gift basket are ideal for any age, gender, and profession. 

A corporate basket with loads of giving thanks written on the sweets and chocolates is also available to those who want to loudly say that their appreciation to a client or an employee. 

Wine for a toast gift basket

Saying "thank you" can be a cause for a celebration. And there is no better way to celebrate it than by having a drinking with any of the wines that is included in your wine gift basket. Red and white wines with wine glasses coupled with almonds, candies, and cookies can complete this corporate gift basket. 

Trunk of Treats Gift Basket

Pretzels, chocolate hazelnuts, spearmint balls, peach slices, cookies, pistachios, flavored candies, lemon drops, peanut brittle, and every mouthwatering goody you can ever think of. Who would not want them all? Even you will surely be dazzled once you see how delightable these goodies are. Make all these fit in a corporate gift basket and you will surely send your sweetest thanks to its recipient. 

Bundle of gracious gourmet

For a very special client, a bundle of gracious gourmet will surely send thousands of thanks. Gourmet gift basket may include different types of chocolates, caramels, almonds, pretzels, cheese, fruit crèmes, and all other mouthwatering delights you can think of. 

Chef corporate gift basket

Chef corporate gift basket does not only include salt and pepper with shakers.  It also includes fruits, grains, herbs, and spices, perfect to someone with high regards to the food artistry.  

Cookie and coffee gift basket

Everyone loves the aroma of fresh coffee being brewed early in the morning. And for sure, everyone will be impressed if they receive a basket of different coffee beans, muffins, brownie and cookies. 

Personal-favorites gift basket

If you want to give a corporate gift basket that includes everything that he or she likes, then, it may be the best gift you can offer. Personal-favorites gift basket lets you choose the things the recipient would want to receive. Some online sites and department stores let you choose the items you want to include in a basket. Or, shop for the different items you want to give, place them in a basket, and wrap it yourself. 

Make-your-own gift basket is a popular selection among all types of gift baskets. Choose from a range of items as well as baskets that are perfectly tailored to the recipient. 

All of these are available online for a more convenient shopping. Price ranges from $20 to $300 or more. 

Simple Rules on Giving Corporate Gifts to Your Employees

Give gifts to everyone and don’t play favorites. – This means that you have to give gifts from your assistant to the utility. Treat them all equal. If you plan to give different items to each of them, the value should only be within a couple of dollars. 

If you are giving gifts to selected few, be discreet. – If in case you only plan to give gifts to a chosen few like your assistant, few clerks, and the receptionists, do not tell everyone about your plan. Keep it silent and hand your gifts when no one else who can see; it may be out of the office. You can be charged with favoritism if you are not careful enough. 

Be fair to everyone and consistent. – A personalized gift to one employee means personalized gift to all. Do not give special gift to someone and a uniform token to the rest. Doing this will create negative feedbacks against you. 

Choose appropriate gifts – There is a thick line that divides the appropriate gifts from the inappropriate ones. However, even if it may seem so hard to cross this border, there are still some who want to test the un-chartered terrain. Leave that task to those who want to take the unnecessary risks. 

For your employees, make sure that what you choose as a corporate gift suits the person. Be safe and use common sense. You know very well that the gift items you can give to your wife/husband are different from the gift items you can give to your employees.

Also, your diabetic employees should not receive chocolates or cookies; your overweight employees should not receive clothes that will not fit them; and so on. 

Avoid gender discrimination – Of course, you will choose your gift according to gender but make sure that you treat each of them equally. Do not buy a $50-gift for men and a $10 gift for women. Keep it equal. Better yet, choose an item that will suit both men and women and give it to all. 

A gift is different from a party – Do not think that once you have given your employees a party, you have already given them your gift. A party is a party; a gift is a gift… plain and simple.

Take gift returns easily. – Receiving returned gifts may be quite an embarrassing experience but make sure you do not go ballistic that would end that employee an added figure in the unemployment rate. You will only scare everyone if you do that. Keep them comfortable and appreciate their honesty. 

Take into account the important matters – Do not just give what you want; give what is right. Consider your employees' religion, ethnicity, health, personal ethics, cultural background, etc. Make sure you take note of these things so that you avoid hurting your employees in the process or having your gifts returned. 

Work related Gift items should be avoided – Any corporate gift item not related to work is very much appreciated since your employees are not compelled to use it at the office or where you can see it. 

Don’t give double-meaning gift items – "Idiot guide to counting from one to ten correctly", "better understanding about work and professionalism", "easy guide to lose pounds", "book on Labor Code", and anything of the same sort can insult anyone. These items must be avoided at all cost.