Show Your Clients You Care – Send Them A Gift

Today’s post was written by Renee Wallace of Its Alicious. Enjoy her great suggestions then pop over to Renee’s site and say g’day!

It has always been seen as a nice thing to thank your clients, after all, if they weren’t your clients, you might not be in business.  Thanking customers with a tangible item can make a great marketing statement, thus distinguishing your business or service from others.

Receiving a gift, especially one with an elegant presentation, will make anyone feel happy and appreciated.  When you send a thank you gift to a client it not only makes them feel special and valued, but more importantly keeps them coming back.  It also makes your client more likely to refer your products and services to their friends and family.  So a gift that might cost you $20 to start with could bring in quite a bit of extra business, thus making it a worthwhile business investment.

Saying thank you is an essential element of building referral business.  At a minimum, it is almost essential for a small business that is service orientated to at least send a card to a client, to thank the client for their business.  Receiving cards is often unmemorable, so going the extra distance to send a small gift with the card as well will show you are thoughtful and prepared to go the extra mile.  It is better to be forgotten after sending a thank you card than be remembered as the business who didn’t even bother to send anything.

Here are six great, inexpensive gift ideas for the small business, as a way to thank your clients:

Think Local

Whether your clients are local to you, or from another part of your country, it is always nice to send something local, to remind them of the awesome area you live in.  Great local gifts include a small print of a local landmark (this way they can choose how to display it, i.e frame it etc), a bottle of wine from a local winery in your district, locally produced food items, a gift card for a local boutique company.

Personalised Messages

There are a number of companies that provide a range of printed messages personalised to your clients.  You can send personalised letters, calendars, mugs, bags, the possibilities are endless.  This way you can cater for your vast range of clients, making everything personal to that client.

Food/Sweets/Chocolate Baskets

Everyone loves to receive a gift basket of delicious goodies.  The problem with a lot of mass produced gift baskets is they contain a lot of products that you client might not even be interested in, such as a lot of gourmet items that are not really to their taste.  How about purchasing a small basket or box, filling it with a range of wrapped chocolates, sweets etc, and then wrapping it in cellophane, with a personal note attached.  This way you can tailor it to your client’s tastes, it looks beautiful and is relatively inexpensive for your business, and shows enormous thought towards your client.

Gifts that keep on giving

As the heading says, gifts that keep on giving are a great idea for giving your clients. Ideas for this include a small packet of seeds for your client to plant, thus always being reminded of your awesome service.  An already established plant, in a cute pot, is a great, relatively inexpensive gift that will continue to grow for years to come.  Some clients might also appreciate you making a charity donation in their name.  This way you can choose the amount to donate (your client doesn’t have to know) but you are giving onto someone else the gift of money to help that charity keep on giving.  Other small gifts, depending on budgets, are things like magazine subscriptions, local attraction tickets etc.

Referral Rewards

Referral rewards are a great way for a small business to reward their clients.  How can it not be!  If each of your customers/clients referred 2 new customers/clients to your business, think how quickly your business would grow.  Starting off with 10 clients, them each referring 2 new clients will grow your business to 30 clients just like that.  So why not reward those original 10 clients with something, maybe a discount for your services/products or a free item with their next purchase.  Soon everyone will be talking about your business.

Customer Appreciation Days

Wouldn’t it be great to get all your clients together for one day a year, to thank them for their continued custom.  This doesn’t have to be anything fancy, maybe a few bottles of wine (depending on numbers), some small platters of finger food and your great company.  You could supply a small gift bag to each client, filled with items you might be able to obtain from your sponsors, or small personalised items with your business details on such as magnets, pens, calendars etc.

How do you show your customers you care?

About Renee Wallace

Renee Wallace is the owner of It's Alicious. The business was an idea born out of trying to find a point of difference in the craft world. After months of research and searching, I found the idea of face clothes folded to look like food. Very appealing and oh so much better for you than real cake! After attending Serena Star-Leonard's Launchpad Course, it has turned into so much more. It's Alicious is now about gift giving, gift buying and everything in between.