Gift Giving in the Corporate Sector
Showing appreciation to your clients is so much more than sending a generic thank-you card that invariably ends up in the trash – with the recipient contemplating, “is that all they think of us”.
Ideas to Show True Appreciation:
There are far better ways to show your appreciation. How about a luxury gift set, booking a dinner date thus supporting a local restaurant or how about an adventure for a team at a theme park or escape room – that’s memorable?
Simpler items such as tea and coffee sets, sleep packages, sweets and board games are perfect gift ideas for clients.
Since ancient times the Japanese, masters at business etiquette, have been giving gifts to show their appreciation. Taking a leaf out of the Oriental mastery of gift-giving may be just the ticket. Read on:
Well before emigrating to the USA I was introduced to the Japanese by becoming a gardener to a wealthy Japanese family near where I lived in South London. I was amazed by the consideration shown to their humble teenage gardener, their appreciation and, what I thought incredible at the time, their gift-giving at New Year and other auspicious times.
Later moving to Bangkok I was an English teacher within the large community of Japanese residing there in the mid 80’s. Here I was to discover much more about gift-giving in Japanese culture and how it positively enhances relationships in business.
I did some research and discovered that gift-giving dated back to times when Shinto and Buddhism were more prevalent and that the Samurai used to present swords and textiles in appreciation.
But the real boom in corporate gift-giving went hand in hand with the boom times and prosperity of the post-war years. It is now so ingrained in Japanese culture that there are huge queues at counters to return unwanted gifts after New Year!
That is of course something that when giving a gift, as mentioned in the first paragraphs, we want to avoid. A gift should be from the heart and not to satisfy some moral obligation. And it should be wanted.
Sometimes we need help and seeking companies with ideas for gift giving and the wherewithal to supply them can save a lot of time and money and be more effective in nurturing business relationships.
