Enrich your mind with books

I remember when I was at school, that after a long holiday where I had no mental challenges, that it took a few weeks to adjust to normal daily task, like writing the date, reading text books etc. In the corporate work this is true as well, it takes a while to recharge yourself into “go” mode.

So this year I decided to give gifts for gifts. They make a terrific gift and keeps the recipient mentally stimulated as well.

Some of the titles that are on my Christmas gifts.

For my teenage recipients: 365 Awesome Facts & Records About Nature
With an awesome fact or figure for each day of the year, this book covers every aspect of our natural world, from the beginnings of life to the end of the dinosaurs, and from the structure of the plant and animal kingdoms to animal behaviour and natural disasters.

For the kids I am giving: African Myths and Legends by Jay Heale and Dianne Stewart. Vividly told and illustrated, the book sustains the intrigue of storytelling that has been passed on from generation to generation. The magic lies in deciding whether the stories are fact or fiction.

For my Partying friends: Make Your Own Cocktails by David Biggs
A collection of over 100 tantalizing classic and unusual cocktails and mixed drinks. Includes a range of ideas for non-alcoholic drinks for drivers, non-drinkers and children.

One of my staff has a dream about studying law, so for her I am giving a teaser gift: Everyone's Guide to South African Law (2nd Edition) by Adriaan Anderson, Anelia Dodd and Rolien Roos This book is aimed at every South African who needs to know whether to obtain professional advice on a particular legal issue, or who simply wants to acquire a general understanding of the law. Few people know enough about the law or even understand legal terminology, yet the law is a vital part of society that affects all of us to some extent or another.

For my travelling friends: I chose Hiking Trails of South Africa by Sandra and Willie Olivier. Every major trail in South Africa is covered, with a clear description of each hike, its length and estimated time, plus information on hike accommodation, facilities and activities, such as abseiling and diving.
So choose a book as a gift this Christmas season whether they are humorous, historical, coffee table types or self help, this gift has longevity and builds the mind and spirit.

Belle Regalo offers a range of books for corporate gift buyers. We also offer branded tip in pages with your corporate logo and message for corporate gift book purchases. For more details visit us on

www.belleregalo.co.za

How I Relieve End of The Gift Shopping Blues

Preparing for your Christmas list can turn you into a crazed manic shopper scurrying around at the last minute and turning a time of “peace for all mankind” into an opportunity for tranquilsers for all family-kind.

I have found that there are some deliciously unfair advantages of being a corporate gift specialist.

On Sunday we celebrated my stepson’s 26th birthday. He is currently working with an art gallery but has also been studying to be a tour guide operator. He has a great love for wild life and has a very enchanting way of telling a story, which is a great advantage in this industry.

Taking into account his passions an opportunity presented itself in July. A client ordered a consignment of binoculars for the end of the year function. I have to tell you that this is easily my most organized client, as I have met no one else that ordered their gifts four months ahead of the function. If I ever expanded to a level that I needed my own internal event coordinator, I would definitely seek her out.
But back to my tale. When I received the order, I thought, “This is great” and ordered a set for both of my stepsons. One as a birthday gift for the 26 year old in September and one as a Christmas gift for my soon-to-be 13 year old step son.

In December my 13 year old stepson comes to visit us for the Christmas holidays. He is a wonderful addition to my life, but I have to admit that travel time with a demanding 5 year old and an irritated older step brother drives me to distraction.
So opportunity presented itself again. I have just received an order for 1000 USBs. It just so happens that the importer for the USBs also has some stock of great MP4 players. Bonus, get two MP4 players, one as a birthday gift for my stepson (his birthday is early in December) and one for my daughter. Then we have two occupied children instead of two terrorists saying “mommy, Mathew won’t give me any space.” Or, “No Margaret, move up”.

My stepdaughter and her fiancé recent bought a house and regularly have guests over on weekends for a braai, so I am thinking of getting them some of those outdoor camping chairs. In fact my dad just may like one of those as well, so that knocks him off the list.

This may seem a lot like cheating to you, but every job has its stressors and its perks. I consider this to be a perk. I have happy family members, who get gifts that they actually like and I save the time and fuel costs of rushing around buying gifts at what is arguably the busiest time of the year for a corporate gift specialist.

Everyday Family outdoor events and gifts

As I write this I have a lot of physical tenderness We spent yesterday at a horse and game farm.

The last time that we went horse riding was in December last year. But yesterday was the first time that my daughter went riding with us. Her experience of horse riding has been a 5 minute guided pony ride.

We went out for a 1 hour ride, which was perfect for the heat of the day. Long enough for relaxation, and short enough without giving us heat exhaustion.

During the day I used several corporate gifts that I have acquired during my career. The joy of being a corporate gift specialist is that if there is something that I like, I order extra unit for us to use as a family.

We had a braai at the farm and so we packed our cooler bags, plastic plates, plastic glasses and knives and forks. I even have a great set of braai tongs which were also from my corporate gift stock. We were a group of ten, but the rest of the group had not planned properly for the event and so we were the only ones with the correct gear. A team was sent out of a type of foraging expedition to get paper plates, but in the end we had to use one of our plates for the braai meat and my family and I had to use our plates in relay to have lunch. This made me realize that when you have a large extended family, extra outdoor gifts are always a blessing.

We packed the picnic blanket and the umbrella for my grandson. Yes, I am probably South Africa’s youngest grandmother. My grandchild is from my husband’s daughter from his first marriage.

We packed our caps and my daughter took her water bottle. Accidentally my husband took one of my manufacturing samples of my caps out with us and in the dust (because the area was quite dry), it became stained. We have so many caps at home and so I wondered how many caps a person can actually have, but the more time we spend outdoors, the more I come to realize that a cap is always a useful gift.

The day was a leisurely day in the morning as we braaied, had some refreshments and I added a few centimeters on by binging on jelly babies.

At about 15H30 we went out on our ride. There was some game on the farm and we were able to see zebras, waterbuck and gemsbok. I realized that I had left the binoculars and home. We pack the binoculars away because my 5 year old daughter tends to think that they are her personal toy binoculars, so it slipped my mid to consider taking them and for that I was sorry because she could not get a decent view of the game that was further away. I would have loved to have had the digital camera binoculars with us, because that way we could have captured the event for Margaret.

My daughter had insisted on riding the white horse, but when we got on the owners said that we needed to choose another horse as we needed something slower because of Margaret.

So I swapped with my husband Colin. Well this horse was so fast that it just stopped. My husband had to get off and had to start walking the horse. The irony of it was that just on the way to the ride he mentioned that we should go hiking more often. So we went for a ride and Colin went for a hike because he walked more than 50% of the way.

So last night when we returned home, we were all sore and tired, but of course Colin was exhausted.

As the weather begins to improve of the next few weeks and we welcome spring, we are looking forward to a lot more outdoor experiences. So this may be a good time for you to begin thinking about outdoor gifts for your corporate gifts for your clients.

Enjoy Spring.

Why purchase corporate gifts?

Why purchase corporate gifts? The benefits of corporate gift giving can never be under-stated! Highly successful businesses understand the importance of branding. To achieve that well sorted after branding, resources are poured into marketing which will lead us to corporate gift giving!

Corporate gifts can be broadly categorised into internal and external branding. Internal branding can be achieve by acquiring gifts to be given to staff within the company. This will help to foster the common identity to build that corporate spirit and morale which will increase productivity.

External branding is by far the most important benefit of corporate gift giving between the two. Ultimately businesses are build around customers support. Therefore it is important to send signature corporate gift to customers to set your company apart and reinforce visual identity. Successful businesses are build on relationships that is base on the service that they provide more than the products they sell. It is this relationship that helps to seal the next project regardless of the price!

Personalised corporate gift which can be made affordable is used as a gentle reminder that your company still exists and re-established the business again! Whenever possible, promotional or seasonal corporate gift are best sent to thank customers for the business support.

Corporate gifts and souvenirs are also prudently employed to launch new company at trade show to create their branding and target any possible new clients.

Belle Regalo Supplier of Corporate Gifts is a South African company that supplies and imports corporate gifts and promotional gifts including watches, clocks, pens and keyrings. For your Corporate Gifts, you can order and personalize your corporate and promotional gifts for the end of the year gifts now.

As you will see we have an extraordinary range of giftsgift companies, we provide branding (Laser & scratch engraving, pad printing, sandblasting etc.) Our product ranges are suitable for promotionalcorporate gifts. You can make your corporate gifts unique and personalize them, so this year you can stand out from the crowd!

For a complete professional and personalized service we offer gift wrapping for your corporate gifts. We are a one stop corporate and promotional gift solution.

Are you putting the Law of Reciprocity to work for you?

Want to improve your relationships? Use the power of reciprocity to build trust, and enhance your work, family, and social relationships.

Rule for Reciprocation:

"One of the most potent of the weapons of influence around us is the rule for reciprocation. The rule says that we should try to repay, in kind, what another person has provided us."

Reciprocation flows from Divine Law that can neither be ignored or put aside. Perhaps, the most important of these laws is the law of love” Put simply, "Love is Law, Law is Love. God is Love, Love is God." This amounts to the same thing as "the gift of giving" without the "hope of reward or pay," or serving others. This 'law of love' is identified in many different ways this law of love in the workplace is described as the "law of reciprocity."

The law of reciprocity is not what can best be described as "transactional reciprocity”. Many people conceive of their business dealings as spot market exchanges--value given for value received, period. Nothing more, nothing less. This tit-for-tat mode of operation can produce success, but it doesn't invoke the power of reciprocity and so fails to yield extraordinary success."

Reciprocity is a basis of trust and a basis for legitimate power. People state The Law of Reciprocity in many forms. "I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine." "You reap what you sow." "You get what you give." These laws can be used well with the giving of corporate gifts. The giving of gifts is an acknowledgement of the time for an appointment, or thank you for business etc.

The principle is that others will reciprocate in kind based upon the way you treat them. The world gives you what you give to the world.

Social psychologists use the term "idiosyncrasy credits" that result from the favorable impressions we make on others. These credits accumulate and you can cash them in for favors or to get others to do things for us.

Stephen Covey, author of The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, uses the phrase "emotional bank account" to describe the principle of reciprocity and the corresponding credit-withdrawal process in relationships. Using the metaphor of a financial bank account, the emotional bank account describes the trust that accumulates in a relationship. Like the financial bank account, you must make deposits before you can make withdrawals.

You should note eight important points regarding The Law of Reciprocity:

1. People expect repayment over time. This is based upon the idea of social exchange. Reciprocity is an implicit assumption in most of our relationships. Giving and receiving favors is a common exchange. When someone does something for you, they implicitly expect that when the circumstance is right, you will do something of approximately equal value for them. For example, if your neighbor helps you put up a fence, your neighbor will expect you to help them when they put up a fence or need other assistance with their home. If you cover for someone at work, you expect that they will cover for you when you need their help.

2. Acts must be mutually rewarding. A successful relationship requires that all parties benefit from the relationship and invest in the relationship. Even when one party might be the primary giver, they still often have the expectation that they will receive in kind—if not from the other party then from the world at another time. If you are going to give a corporate gift, make sure that it is of nature that it can be used and will be appreciated.

3. Deposits don’t simply accumulate. The value of the deposits can increase or decrease over time. People may forget or ignore small deposits. People may remember big favors, large deposits or large gifts for longer periods. The value of deposits is what the other person perceives the value to be.

4. You can go in the red. You can wipe out your account with a single withdrawal. If you don’t have a large accumulation of credits, or you make a very large withdrawal, or you make many small withdrawals, you can go in the red.

5. You make deposits or receive credits by making favorable impressions on others—by doing things for them. You make deposits through courtesy, kindness, honesty, respect, gifts and other favors. The favors are often small, but they accumulate over time as your relationship blossoms. The deposits build trust and create a history of what the parties involved in the relationship expect from each other.

6. A history of reciprocity promotes trust. People evaluate your actions and motives based upon their perceptions of your previous actions and motives. If you are consistent in your corporate gift giving there is also a level of trust that the relationship has meaning to you and that you will consistency service this client.

7. Reciprocity is a very powerful form of power. The expectation of giving and returning gifts and favors creates an obligation to stick to agreements. This is a very powerful and psychologically binding expectation. Although they may never discuss the expectation openly, it is there and affects negotiations and relationships.

8. Reciprocity can be both positive and negative. If you harm others, they may seek revenge or retribution. People want to make things even in a relationship. They want to do good for those who have treated them well. They want to do harm to those who have harmed them.

By understanding and using the power of reciprocity, you can improve your relationships and avoid mistakes that can permanently damage your relationships. In life and work, you get what you give. Take for example when you are working on your corporate giftcorporate gift has tarnished the relationship. strategy. If you give branded wine to a person who is a recovering alcoholic or who has religious objections to alcohol, then the

The lesson is that we cannot pursue the power of reciprocity. When we try to invoke reciprocity directly, we lose sight of the reason for it: helping others. Paradoxically, it is in helping others without expecting reciprocity in return that we invoke the power of reciprocity. The path to reciprocity is indirect: reciprocity ensues from the social capital built by making contributions to others.

The deliberate pursuit of reciprocity fails, just like the pursuit of happiness. Acts of contribution, big and small, build your fund of social capital, creating a vast network of reciprocity. And so those who help you may not be those you help. The help you receive may come from distant corners of your network.

How to Use Corporate Gifts

Even if you can define what corporate gifts are – you may have even more trouble answering the following question: how to use corporate gifts to your company's best advantage.

Corporate gifts are broadly recognized as anything given out by a company for free, with or without the company's name and logo attached to it. Sometimes, the smaller value items of this type are known as promotional items, but the two terms can be used interchangeably. Most people think of corporate gifts as being in the domain of large companies – places like Microsoft or other corporations with many employees as well as many customers. In fact, corporate gifts can work to help out any company.

Most smaller companies may not be able to give out as many corporate gifts or items that are very expensive, but you can still learn how to use corporate gifts to your advantage. One way to use these gifts or items is to give them to customers that you are already doing business with. Studies have shown that customers are much more likely to choose to go back to a company that has given them a corporate gift over a company that has not. These gifts can be great for customer retention.

Another way to use these corporate gifts is to give them out at trade shows or other exhibitions. In this case, you may not choose to use the higher end gifts you would give customers (such as office sets and other related objects), instead you will probably end up using promotional materials that are less costly. Some examples of these items that would work well in a trade show environment include pens, pencils, key rings and pads of paper – just to name a few.

A final way to use corporate gifts is in name recognition and brand building. If you are looking to build the size of your business and have more people choosing you on name or logo alone, you need to build your brand. Handing out promotional items or corporate gifts to prospective customers and current customers is a great way to accomplish this. Others who see these gifts will learn your name and remember your “brand” later on.

Big or small, learning how to use corporate gifts to your advantage can really help your business. Be sure that you are doing all you can to gain new customers and keep the ones you have by using these gifts.

For Corporate Gift ideas visit our on-line catalogue on www.belleregalo.co.za

Personal vs. Desk Based Corporate Gifts

Requests for desk based corporate gifts are a frequent one that I get as a corporate gift specialist. Often my clients question whether they should give a desk based corporate gift or a personal use corporate gift.

The answer lies in what you wish you achieve with your corporate gifts. Is it a relationship building corporate gift or an adverting gift?

Generally speaking, advertising is the paid promotion of goods, services, companies and ideas by an identified sponsor. Marketers see advertising as part of an overall promotional strategy. Other components of the promotional mix include publicity, public relations, personal selling and sales promotion. If your chief reason for giving out the gift is for advertising then the branding should be very prominent and visible. In this case a desk based corporate gift is an excellent idea.

This kind of corporate gift should be novel and useful so that it will actually be used by the recipient and thus promoting your brand. It should draw the eye of people to the item. Remember that the person who is already a client may enjoy the corporate gifts, but as they are an existing customer the primary focus of this gift is to draw attention of people who are not yet customers to your product, unless your goal is to reinforce your brand. This means that if this corporate gift is highly visible to passers by it will be noticed and it will thereby activate the brand building capabilities of this corporate gift.

CRM is an acronym for Customer Relationship Management. CRM is an industry term for software solutions that help enterprise businesses manage customer relationships in an organized way. An example of a CRM would be a database containing detailed customer information that management and salespeople can reference in order to match customer needs with products, inform customers of service requirements, etc.

Corporate gifts can be good relationship-building tools for expressing appreciation and gratitude towards your most valued employees, customers.

These corporate gifts have a primary focus to build the relationship between you and your customer. As the relationship is the primary goal of this corporate gift, go for subtle branding. Don’t use your client as a human advertisement. Rather build the relationship with your corporate gifts and turn the customer into an advocate for your copy, because their referrals will mean a lot to your business and your reputation. You can make use of branded ribbon and branded gift wrap to enhance the brand and advertise your product especially upon delivery when a lot of your client’s colleagues are likely to see the corporate gift, but always put the customer first when deciding how to brand this corporate gift.

For relationship building corporate gifts we recommend that you give a gift that they can use even at home. Some ideas include wine gifts, binoculars, hampers, books, jackets, watches etc.