1.Situation 

Many of us have been given the opportunity to offer gifts as a sign of appreciation manifested by us and our company to collaborators and partners. Corporate gifts have generated an industry specialized in personalizing this approach based on many aspects: price, quality, uniqueness, innovation, the personality of the person who offers or receives, the desire to surprise.

2.Task

But beyond all these considerations how do we define a beautiful gift?

I’ve been thinking about this matter for a long time and analysing retrospectively what I received from collaborators, I came to the conclusion that it is very easy to offer a common gift just to fulfil an obligation. But, it’s a real science to choose a gift to be noticed among dozens of gifts your partner receives during winter or Easter holidays.

3.Action

Filtering all these considerations many years ago I decided that all the gifts I give to my collaborators must come out of the standard in the sense to surprise the person who receives it and most importantly to make her/him smile. All these gifts accompanied by a written or personally transmitted note. Armed with these desiderata I personally often did search and buy gifts for my collaborators, working on packaging and personalizing the message.

4.Results

The only example I reveal is the gift I sent to collaborators with the occasion of winter holidays in 2017. The rest of the gifts are history now.

I noticed in some stores a limited winter pack: Johnnie Walker whiskey and two special glasses, all beautifully packed in an anthracite metal box. It seemed to me that in the context in which companies offer sweets, cakes, cosmetics, winter decorations, offering to my collaborators a real whiskey in an exceptional presentation might be a real nice surprise.

To this gift I added my personal note: a small poetry composed by me with the name ” Two glasses ”:

Two glasses thrive after the thirsty mouths,

Just for the 16 auspices to tell the fortune in the empty bottle!

In Romanian this poem makes sense.

5.Key Learnings

What was the reaction of my collaborators when they received my gift for winter holidays? Was it appreciated? Did it create curiosity and smiles? Was it memorable? Did it stand out?

If your answer is positive, do not hesitate to invest time and energy to give your partners a unique gift, preferably accompanied by a personal and personalized message. Because this gift beyond the potential appreciation you show or beyond the simple fulfilment of an action, it helps you keep open your communication with your clients and partners. And this is useful for you and your work.

Notification: MYPRODUCT reflects my real professional experience and expertise as well as my subjectivity. I do have a profound respect for all the companies I collaborated to and for all the people I worked with. It is not my intention to approach any sensitive, confidential or offending information related to companies, projects or people. If you the reader deduct or recognise companies, projects or people in my examples, I kindly ask you to respect MYPRODUCT and my professional and ethic approach and to not share any detail, information, situation, name, company.