Business Gifts for Executives
When giving corporate gifts to your own employees
or to a liaison at a company you hope to turn into a prospect, there are
rules, but the rules are loose. For example, it is a good idea to give a
gift to an employee in person, but if you should choose to place it on their
desk or send it to their home, it is unlikely to cause any considerable
problems.
When you are preparing corporate gifts for
executives of large companies, however, the guidelines are far more
important. Executives are notorious for commanding respect, often with lofty
expectations and a desire to be wowed, rather than simply acknowledged.
Improperly giving corporate gifts to executives can cause a great deal of
backlash, even if you do everything else correctly and even if your gift was
carefully selected for the individual that received it. Executives are
looking for reasons to dislike the gift, so it becomes vital that you follow
all of the guidelines of corporate gift giving.
Rules for Executive Corporate Gifts
·
Price is Important
Executives with seven figure salaries can afford
most branded items on their own, and do not enjoy receiving little trinkets
of no considerable value. That is why you should base the amount you spend
on the gift on the amount of the sale. For example, if you are about to win
a 500,000 dollar contract, a good gift value is roughly $2,000 to $5,000 –
Somewhere around 0.5% to 1% of the contract value. That’s a hefty sum, but
still only a small percentage of the contract’s value.
·
Gift Should Be Personal
Executives are a little more willing to drop hints
about what they like and do not like. As such, you can have a conversation
with the executive about what they enjoy before purchasing a gift that they
will enjoy. The worst thing you can do is spend thousands on a gift only for
it to be an item that they dislike. That leaves a bad impression and wastes
a considerable sum of money.
·
Non-Tangible Gifts May Be Best
For the executive that makes millions a year, the
best gift may not be something physical at all. Rather, great gifts include
vacation packages and tickets to expensive events or experiences – things
that the individual either may not have considered in the past. Tickets to
other states/countries should always be first class, and everything should
be as high end as possible.
Notes About Executive Gifts
It should be noted that executives do not always
need gifts unless it is the executive that needs to be courted. In other
words, if you are dealing with a middle management liaison, the executive
only needs a corporate gift if it will have considerable influence on the
decision. If management will make the decision and the executive is likely
to simply sign off, the gift may not be necessary.
In addition, these large corporate gifts are only
meant for wooing executives to sign things like large contracts. If giving
the gift is for another purpose (simply getting your brand known, or
celebrating an anniversary between your companies) you may not need to
splurge so much, and lesser gifts should be acceptable.