Getting to Know Your Client to Give Them Business Gifts
Corporate gifts have always been an effective
method of winning over potential clients. They are especially useful as a
way of getting your foot in the door during the sales process. By getting a
company a corporate gift, you are able to make a fantastic first impression
– one that will permeate throughout the sales process in order to improve
your chances of getting the contract signed.
The issue is that these gifts are only as effective
as the impression they make on the recipients. In order to make that
positive impression, you cannot simply get any old gift that may have worked
for you (or others) in the past. You need to show some type of originality,
and you need to make sure that what you provide for your potential clients
is something that truly makes an impact.
The best – and possibly the only – way to do this
successfully is to get to know as much as you can about the company you are
targeting. The more you know about the company, the easier a time you will
have finding corporate gifts that will make a great first impression.
Examples of Putting Knowledge Into Action
During a productive cold call with a prospective
company, things may be said that indicate the company’s needs or wants, and
how your company is able to match them. Corporate gifts allow for
flexibility with originality, so you should always be on the lookout for how
you can impress these companies based on the language they use and the
desires they have.
A great example is if you are trying to sell your
services to a company within the music industry. Perhaps you learn that
their company is marketing CDs and in need of products that allow for
greater branding and design of their music products – something your
software is not quite related to. Perhaps they have considered your
software, but their priorities are elsewhere.
Most likely they will want to find the software
they need on their own. But you still have the opportunity to make a very
positive impression by using this information to your advantage. An example
of how to turn this into a corporate gift would be going to a local upscale
bakery and requesting they make a large cake in the shape of a CD, and using
frosting to label the CD with your own logo and a one sentence message about
your product. Then have the cake sent to the company.
Now you have made an impressive and unique gesture
that is sure to impress their entire staff, and though they may not be
making a decision about your product right away, chances are when they are
ready to consider your items, you will be the first company they think of.
You have taken a piece of information that you learned about a company and
turned it into an impressive and original corporate gift that is sure to
impress their executives. That is why you should always learn as much as you
can about a company before sending a gift, and try to mold your corporate
gifts around what you have learned.