Over at the Consultant Journal Andrea Coutu has a great list of guidelines for business Christmas gifts.
Even though it's September, it's not too early for the home business owner to start thinking about the holiday season. If you order customized gifts with your business name printed on them, it could easily take six to eight weeks before you receive your order.
To tell you the truth, this is an area that I've always struggled with (for some of the reasons that Andrea mentions). I can see sending gifts if you have clients who are individuals (such as consumers who purchased items from your website, store, or in person). What if your situation is like mine and your client is an entity (such as a company), rather than an individual? 
What I've usually done is informally conveyed my best holiday wishes, through e-mail, to my contacts at each organization. They've responded in a like fashion to me. This seems to work well in my situation.
I have given some thought as to which gifts I would choose for my clients, if I were to give holiday gifts. While it's fun to send and receive food, it soon disappears. Pens and pencils with my business name on them are too easily lost. If I'm going to go to the trouble to have my name put on a business item, I'd like it to be on something that the client will keep around for a while.
My pick for holiday gifts for small business customers (although I probably won't send any gifts to clients again this year) is a calendar. Ideally it would hang on the wall and my customers would look at it (and my business name) all year long.
Yes, I know that lots of businesses send out calendars, but I have to say that I appreciate each and every calendar that I receive. I have a calendar for my business. Each of my kids has their own calendar in their bedroom. I have an extended family calendar with birthdays on it. I have a purse calendar that I carry in my purse to make appointments and keep track of things while I'm out of the house.
What about you? Do you send holiday gifts or greeting to your clients? Do you think I'm a scrooge for not sending gifts?
Leave a comment and let us know.
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Tracked on: November 15, 2007 7:59 PM | Permalink to Trackback