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.

Industry Related Gifting Ideas

From time to time I get industry related gifting ideas questions.

This is a response to a client who is looking for low cost gifts for the catering industry.

When I was in charge of functions at some of the previous companies that I worked at, I found that it was very difficult to differentiate between caterers.

If you find a good graphic designer or copy writer you can put together a fabulous brochure that can blow anyone’s mind. But I looked for over all presentation, whether the caterer was on time for the appointment (as this would be an indication of whether they would meet deadlines) and of course taste. But these days it is difficult to taste unless the caterer has an open day. So her are a few gifting suggestions for caterers.

For introductory appointments I would suggest:

Branded ribbon, beautiful boxes and tissue paper. Then make up a batch of your signature cookies, pastries etc and place in the beautiful box. I am personally going to make up these boxes for me as many of my clients already have it all. A few years back I was at an exhibition and I had a taste tester at one of the caterer’s stands and I was sold.

Try to make your gifts representative of your industry.

Waiter’s friends are a lovely industry gifts. For the uninformed who are reading this response, a waiter’s friend is a wine bottle opener.

Shopping bags are also a good idea. But remember to add a message in the shopping bag. For example, we only use the freshest ingredients in our dishes. Here something for you when you are stocking up on fresh ingredients.

Coasters can be purchased in sets, but handed our individually. You get a coaster that is a puzzle. Take one piece of the puzzle out and send it to your client with a message. “A good caterer takes care of all the little details that make a prefect function. This piece represents you, we take care of the rest. Then drop off the rest of it and inspire your client.

You have to communicate the relevance of the gifts to your clients. It will elevate your message and your reputation as a creative caterer and event coordinator.

For more gift ideas visit our online catalogue on our website.

Customer Retention Strategies

Few senior managers have regular contact with a broad range of customers, while many do not give clear, visible leadership in achieving excellence in customer management.

This marketing “speak” tends to end at boardroom level and does not infiltrate into every level of the business. Corporate gifts become a “nice-to-have” and not an integrated part of the customer acquisition and customer retention strategy.

Many companies do not know how many high-value customers they lose, nor do they know the reason why key customers are lost. What is also alarming is the fact that studies have shown that in the vast majority of companies, staff responsible for talking to customers could not articulate why customers should buy from them. Each failure to observe good practice leads to a leakage or even in some cases a hemorrhage in profitability.

You can and should use your corporate giving as part of a corporate communication strategy. When your consultants takes the corporate gift to the client, don’t let them just drop it off at reception. Make a set appointment and get the consultant to do a debrief of the year with the client.

Get them to ask face to face critical questions such as “Mr/Ms Smith I am always looking for way that I can improve my level of service to you. Can you give me three suggestions on how I can improve, based on your experience with me this past year?”

You can set the questions, but also set the tone for the next year, so that the client knows that you will do what it takes to retain their business.

Make sure the corporate gifts should be highly suitable and appreciable so that when you are sitting face to face with the client he/she has a positive attitude.

It is important to determine what the policy will be this year on corporate gifts. and to send out a memorandum to your corporate office. You may consult with the person, those who get the gifts in your corporate office only for a suggestion, but let your relationship with your clients be the guide.

Make sure the corporate gifts should be highly suitable and appreciable. Be sensitive to religious and cultural preferences while purchasing end of the year gifts. Unless you know that the client drinks never give alcohol. High stress levels in the work place have lead to alarming levels of alcoholism and certain cultures prohibit the use of alcohol, so keep that branded wine for those who will appreciate it.

You should not offend anyone because you have to work with them everyday, so don’t go for funny or obnoxious gifts. They will appreciate a hamper with pamper items or consumable rather than ten pencil sets, so be careful that you purchase gifts that are not too ordinary.

At the beginning of the following year, drop off a branded jar of mints, sweets or nougat to set the tone for the new year and retain those valuable clients.

You can visit www.belleregalo.co.za for some gifting ideas.

Happy shopping.

Branding using low cost gifts

Despite the number of unique and attractive gifting options, pens remain a firm favorite.

Instead of reserving pens for a conference alone, hand a few to your sales consultants to hand out when they hand out their business cards. I personally have given pens to people that I have met when I was at a function and I have actually received calls from people who have received them.

So many people give me their business cards at a function, but I do not always remember where I have met them. When you give a pen, you can use it to write on the back of your business card where you have met the person who you are giving the pen to. So when they next see your card, they can say “Oh yes, Mrs …., I met her at the Gibs Forum that I attended. This was some great advice that I got from sales and marketing guru Jacques de Villiers.

It may surprise you that as a corporate gift supplier I am often without a pen. Yes there is the irony, so when I get a pen at a function, I keep it in my handbag and unless my 5 year old daughter has been looking for lip ice in my bag and removes a pen (because she and my husband are have a love of pens), these pens tend to stay in my bag and each time I use them, the issuing company’s brand is reinforced.

Actually this works for a number of low cost gifts. I have an Old Mutual lip ice in my bag. Take that into account with the current great television advertising for the rural based lady who started a nursery with the funds in her Old Mutual investment, the brand is slowly sinking into my brain. It made we wonder why I have not considered their investments as an option for me before.

So guess who I will be investigating next time I take out an investment. Why Old Mutual of course thanks to their clever integrated branding campaign.

It seems so simple, but it really does work as part of a long term branding strategy.

But please remember to add your website address or telephone number onto the pen. If I was looking at an Old Mutual investment, I would not know who to call as the lip ice has no contact details on it.

For my smaller clients I usually recommend the website address instead of a telephone number because if their number should change the pens or other low cost gifts become will not direct the client to them.

Happy networking.