What Are the Most Common Mistakes in Choosing Business Gifts?

Finding new customers in order to increase sales is very tempting. But why would you do that when you are already doing business with a huge number of people who are very likely to buy your products and services again? Instead of wasting valuable time looking for new customers, get in touch with those who already keep up with you regularly. For example, offer them special discounts for loyal customers – they are very likely to take advantage of this opportunity, and the best thing is that you can control how quickly they take advantage by setting a deadline. By doing so, you remind them of the quality of your products and services and establish an even stronger connection with them.

There are many choices to make when to comes to choosing ideal promotional gifts – thanks to the large selection of both traditional and innovative gifts (from classic thermoses and USB sticks to more unique products in the sports and leisure category), finding the perfect gift for your customer base and promoting your company proves to be a challenging task. But despite long hours of finding and designing the perfect gift, we still choose to gift loyal customers. Why not surprise them and show them that you value their loyalty to your company?

But sometimes we just don’t get lucky when looking for the perfect gift – our orders arrive late, we’re worried we’ve spent too much or too little, and worst of all – the customer doesn’t like the gift we’ve chosen. How to avoid all these little accidents? What are the main mistakes we try to avoid when looking for a promotional gift? I’m going to be completely honest; you should expect even more obstacles. Wondering how to bridge them? Keep reading!

1. To Each Their Own

No one is exactly the same, so never expect your employee, client, or business partner to show the same enthusiasm as you expect from them. Although you may feel that you have chosen the perfect gift, the giftee may not agree. However, this is not a bad thing – if you do not know the gift recipients personally, it will be difficult to guess what kind of gift will impress them. Something they can use every day is always a safe choice.

2. Don’t Order Late

There are several differences between buying something in a store and ordering online. To avoid driving, long queues, and the disappointment of not finding what we were looking for, we usually decide to shop online, as the internet offers an incredibly practical and generally faster option to choose and buy gifts. But, as with all things in life, there are some unspoken rules for online purchasing – the number one rule is to always place your order on time! Regardless of the delivery information, you will want to make sure the gifts arrive at the right address, perhaps even earlier than anticipated.

3. Price Shouldn’t Be at the Forefront

When picking out gifts, we often end up at one end of the so-called “price spectrum” – so we’re stuck choosing between buying very cheap products or ones that are too expensive. The reason for this, of course, is that we are constantly deciding whether to stick to our budget (which is extremely important when buying a larger quantity of products), or to impress the recipient with something exciting and new. Therefore, it is best to find a balance between quality and price. Remember, however, that a higher price does not always mean better quality and vice versa. What we should be looking for is the perfect balance of the two.

4. The Same Gifts Every Year

Wouldn’t you also be incredibly bored if you received exactly the same pair of socks for every birthday or Christmas? Even if the gift recipients were enthusiastic about your gift for the first and perhaps even the second time, that doesn’t mean you should insist on the same gift every year – no matter what the occasion is. And while we’re on the topic of promotional gifts, we should mention it’s not just about promoting your business – it’s also a great way to thank your employees.

5. Expand Your Way of Thinking

Why give out boring, already-done promotional gifts, such as T-shirts, pens and USB sticks? Why not give something new and original? Think about what’s in trend at the time, and with that in mind, design the perfect promotional gift. Even better, think about what your company symbolizes? If you’re striving for a cleaner environment, why not surprise your colleagues with sustainable gifts? A pair of wheat fibre sunglasses would surely impress just about any of your customers!

6. Quantity Should Not Be More Important Than Quality

I don’t know exactly why, but whenever we’re buying gifts for any occasion, we usually forget the saying “less is more”. We tend to buy more items, hoping the quantity will distract the recipient too much to notice poor quality. Of course, this should never happen – especially when it comes to promotional gifts. What message do low quality products embellished with your logo send to the world? It is better to surprise your customers with something of quality, even if it means giving them only one item.

We hope this short list will help you avoid the most common mistakes that entrepreneurs make when looking for the perfect promotional material to gift their customers.