Today I’m talking about gifting – but not client gifts for Christmas. I’m talking about strategic gifting to future clients, to your prospects, and it’s working with tremendous success for my clients right now. I want to lift the curtain and show you how it’s done: how we think about it, find people, get addresses, what we send, and how it gets through compliance, closed doors, and remote workers.

First, let me make the case: Forrester Research found that personalized gifting opens doors – 40% are more likely to grant sales meetings. CoreSite reports 52% of companies see higher sales after launching corporate gifting programs. Sendoso found 83% of gift recipients feel closer to the companies that send them.  But let me explain the rules of engagement first.

The Gag Gift Formula That Beats Compliance

When I start working with my clients, we first identify the target industry, decision maker, buyer, influencer, as well as their number one pain including pain language. Then we ensure that the door opener gift is a gag gift relating to their pain – never an actual gift that upsets compliance officers because it’s almost always under the $25 compliance limits. The gift reinforces why they need us: their pain, our solution, and proof we’ve done homework to understand their industry pain.

One example: my clinical trial recruitment client works exclusively with forgotten communities (minorities) that don’t trust large pharmaceutical companies. We sent puzzle pieces to clinical research organizations and pharmaceuticals with the message “We are the missing puzzle piece because you’re missing data from these missing populations.” Her biggest win came from pairing this gift opening strategy with being in the same environments with her target prospects – industry events where she spoke, won awards, or networked. The result? She got multiple high-level buyer meetings even when people hadn’t received the puzzle, and those who received it were even more intrigued.

Real Examples: From Glue Bottles to Champagne Triggers

Another client owns a commercial cleaning company with 400 times higher retention than her industry because of specific programs for workers: faith development, continuing education, mental health support, financial support, I mean you name it!

We devised sending a door opener gift in the form of an iconic white glue bottle with the message “Our workers stick with us, which is why your cleaning is always consistent.” She’s targeting local building managers, and starting the whole gifting campaign with email teasers (“something interesting is coming”), then follow-ups (“did you get it?”, “what did you think?”, “is this a need you have?”).  Bonus idea is to marry gifting with other forms of touching your prospect, like direct mail, industry events, conferences, trade shows, or referrals. Just like when an Italian restaurant wanting to increase lunch sales sent pants expanders (elastic waistbands that attach to pants’ closures) made from traditional red-and-white checkered tablecloths to downtown Toronto receptionists and executive assistants. Sales increased 30-40% and stayed high long after the campaign ended because it was tongue-in-cheek, funny, memorable, and directly related to their pain.

Compliance, Addressing, and Follow-Up Strategy

Here’s a Sendoso (a strategic gifting company) case study for a company called Zora: they sent Veuve Clicquot champagne bottles (one of the nicest) as congratulations  when targets either received awards, opened new divisions, got new jobs, landed new clients, or completed acquisitions. They got 75% email open rates paired with emails and 18% meeting rates (18 out of 100 people granted meetings). You might ask, “Isn’t champagne higher than $25-50?” Absolutely. When I worked at Pepsi, vendors sending expensive gifts meant we couldn’t accept them. Even worse, some companies blacklist vendors from ever competing for business again.

If you don’t want to keep it under $25 with gag gifts linked to strategic messaging and you want to go big, reaching out first: “Mr. Smith, I wanted to send a small congratulations for your win. Does your company have a policy around accepting gifts?” This gets you on their radar, finds out their policy, heads off liability, and gives you an opening. Even if they refuse, you’re in conversation to congratulate them on that acquisition.

Remember: marketing is nothing without strategy. Multiple touchpoints: email announcing “something’s coming,” follow-up “did you get it?”, then “see you at the next event” (marrying multiple marketing mix elements), offering demos, assessments, or complimentary strategy sessions showing how you’ve solved this problem for others so they have you in their back pocket when the kitchen’s on fire. For addressing remote workers: every company has ability to send stuff. You don’t have to worry as long as your target prospect still working at that company (verify by calling).

Also remember that handwritten notes go a long way, especially for high-level, small batch sends. High-touch, high-value custom messaging sent individually to important people and meaningful strategic door-openers give you excuses to pursue meaningful targets in strategic ways. Think about who you’re targeting, what meaningful strategic gift connects to the true pain you solve, and take yourself into the new year to double your sales.

Want to reposition your messaging to grow your leads? Follow me on Twitter, friend me on Facebook, watch my Podcast onYouTube or connect with me on LinkedIn –and let’s talk.