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It doesn’t have to be a special occasion to give a gift. Gifts can be used year round and given to clients, business partners or customers. They can be used to show appreciation to your clients and employees. The question is how do you choose a gift that is remembered and will strengthen the relationships?

1. Be sure it’s something they will use!
The gifts you give should be useful. Don’t just add to the pile of stress balls, pens and key chains that get lost in the back of their desk drawers. Instead, choose something that your clients will actually use … frequently.

2. How about something with some meaning behind it?
Give a gift that will appeal to some aspect of their life, one that you know about through your relationship with him or her. For example, if you know that they spend a lot of time with their family choose something they can all enjoy. When you pay special attention like this and give a gift with meaning it will go a lot further than a logo emblazoned keychain.

3. Perhaps a gift that is helpful!
Everyone loves to receive gifts, especially a gift they can use to make their lives a little easier. Why not give a business publication or subscription or specialty tool related to their business? If you give a gift that shows that you actually took a minute to put some thought toward it will go a very long way, and will be appreciated.

4. How about some non-business quality time with your client?
Sometimes a social gift is perfect for the occasion. If your client likes football, give him tickets to a Cardinals game. Maybe take them to dinner before the game, and while you will probably talk a little business, you will still be building relationships. Heck, you can even have them invite a spouse or friend so you can get to know the important people in their lives and create an even stronger relationship with them.

5. Have some fun!
On occasion it’s ok to give a plain old fun gift, just keep it tasteful.  They say laughter is the best medicine; it’s also a great way to build relationships. Everyone likes to have some fun, and if it can be incorporated into work, even better. Sharing a laugh is one of the strongest relationship building tools I have found.

Regardless of what kind of gifts you give to build relationships and show appreciation, the whole point is to keep good employees with you and to keep your clients from moving on to the competition as well as to refer business to you.

Remember the gift that helps you further your relationship is a powerful gift.

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About The Author:

	Mike Liddicoat is a Husband, Father, Speaker and the Sales & Marketing Director of AttaBoy! Solutions. His goal is to help businesses maintain relationships, ensure future business and acquire new referrals through appreciation marketing. Throughout this blog you can sign up for updates, news, special offers, discounts and more. So take a look around, leave a comment or two and enjoy.
Contact Mike

When it comes time to get a gift for a family member or friend how do you decide what to get.  Well you take into consideration their likes and dislikes, hobbies or interests.

You choose something that, based on your intimate knowledge of them, you know they will enjoy.

But what about when it comes to business gifts?  How do you make a good choice when you may not know that much personal information about your recipient?  One way is to guess.  Get a gift and hope for the best.  However, you may not get them a memorable gift or a gift they can use.  It might just be something they will toss away or give to somebody else.

The best  choice for a gift is one that the recipient makes for themselves.  But how do you do that?

Easy!  Our Gift Collections make giving business gifts and incentives easy by offering the Gift of Choice. With these collections, recipients choose their own gift from a wide selection of top-quality, brand-name merchandise by redeeming them online. It’s the perfect solution for small to mid-size businesses – and virtually every budget, occasion, and event!

How do they work?

It’s simple and convenient for your business. You just:

1. CHOOSE the budget range you want to stay within.
2. BUY a Gift Collection on line or from your sales associate.
3. GIVE the gift to the recipient to redeem for their perfect gift!

Then, the recipient:

1. DISCOVERS and browses their Gift Collection online.
2. SELECTS the perfect gift from the many name-brand items.
3. RECEIVES the gift shipped right to their door, free of charge.

Here are some occasions when these Gift Collections work amazingly well:

• Sales incentives
• Holidays
• Employee weddings/new baby
• Customer thank you
• New customer welcome
• Corporate events
• Promotions
• Service awards
• Employee acknowledgment
• Safety awards

Here is what these Gift Collections can do for your business?

They can be given to employees, co-workers, supervisors, managers, customers, business associates, and service providers to help:

• Increase productivity
• Generate sales increases
• Improve morale
• Strengthen employee performance
• Create a safer workplace
• Inspire great ideas and suggestions
• Develop loyalty and dedication
• Enhance work environment

Why give these Gift Collections?

Well they have been rewarding, motivating, and inspiring employees and customers for nearly 40 years, and they are trusted by businesses because they offer:

• 180-day Satisfaction Guarantee
• Easy online redemption
• Popular brand-name gifts
• No minimum order required
• Monetary value not displayed to recipient
• Saves the time and expense of shopping for gifts

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About The Author:

	Mike Liddicoat is a Husband, Father, Speaker and the Sales & Marketing Director of AttaBoy! Solutions. His goal is to help businesses maintain relationships, ensure future business and acquire new referrals through appreciation marketing. Throughout this blog you can sign up for updates, news, special offers, discounts and more. So take a look around, leave a comment or two and enjoy.
Contact Mike

Have you heard the story about the two guys selling watermelons?

There were these two guys from Texas who had a little money and an old pick-up truck, they heard they could buy these watermelons in Mexico for $1 each and they decided that they could sell them for $10 per dozen. They did a great business and sold out before they even got halfway to Dallas. But, while sitting on the side of the road, counting their money, they noticed they were a little short of the amount they had started with. They wondered what the problem was since they had done a brisk business and it finally dawned on them-what they needed was a bigger truck.

Well, that’s not exactly what we are talking about here… however, even these two guys could have a completely different outcome if they put together a plan. Giving stuff away is a powerful business building strategy that attracts new and repeat customers. And while it may seem counterproductive, people will always go out of their way to receive something for free.

Believe it or not, there are benefits of giving something away for free. For example, once someone has tried your product or service they often recognize the value and will continue to purchase what you have to offer. In addition, when someone has received something for free they feel somewhat obligated to continue to buy from you. In both cases, you gain the opportunity to earn future business.

Giving away free gifts is a viable marketing strategy when used correctly. Put some thought into what you could offer that would entice your prospects. Make sure that it is something they would consider to be of value. And remember that the value of a customer gained will far out-weigh the cost of what you give.
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About The Author:

Sally Liddicoat is a Wife, Mother, Speaker and the Founder & CEO of AttaBoy! Solutions. Her goal is to help businesses increase sales, generate ongoing referrals, strengthen relationships and create loyal customers and employees through appreciation marketing. Throughout this blog you can sign up for updates, news, special offers, discounts and more. So take a look around, leave a comment or two and enjoy.

Contact Sally

Can you believe it’s been a year?

Anniversaries are very important milestones. Whether it’s a wedding anniversary or a business anniversary, neither should be overlooked. Both are meant to be celebrated!

Recognizing a wedding anniversary can be tricky business. In the personal realm, generally you are in fairly good contact with friends and/or family and know what’s happening in their personal life. This makes it much easier when sending a card or gift. However, since business may be a little more removed, you should be much more cautious if you plan to acknowledge wedding anniversaries. It wouldn’t look too good to send an anniversary card only to discover later that the marriage had ended.

For businesses, it is much safer to celebrate anniversaries related to the customer or employee relationships. Recognize customers for one or more years of doing business with your company. Or acknowledge the number of years an employee has been with you.

When choosing a gift to send, it’s okay to give something a little more personal for a wedding anniversary. Just be sure to give something that both the husband and wife would appreciate. For a business anniversary, you are better off to have a planned out award program based on years of service -especially for your employees. This will avoid any problems of one employee receiving something the perceive as less than what someone else received in the past. On the other hand, you have more flexibility with your customers. Gifts can be based on the volume of business a customer does with your company or any number of other factors.

Taking the time to take notice and make a big deal of both personal and business anniversaries will mean alot to both your customers and your employees… and will go a long way towards earning their appreciation and continued loyalty.
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About The Author:

Sally Liddicoat is a Wife, Mother, Speaker and the Founder & CEO of AttaBoy! Solutions. Her goal is to help businesses increase sales, generate ongoing referrals, strengthen relationships and create loyal customers and employees through appreciation marketing. Throughout this blog you can sign up for updates, news, special offers, discounts and more. So take a look around, leave a comment or two and enjoy.

Contact Sally

Your company is doing a promotion for potential clients and you just got chosen to find the gifts… Or maybe you have an adult child or niece or nephew’s birthday coming up and you have absolutely no clue as to what it is they want… The truth is -gift giving can be a frustrating pain in the neck no matter what the occasion is.

Of course you want to give a gift that won’t soon be forgotten. And then there’s that dreaded ‘budget’. Not to mention that we are all so busy. The last thing you want to resort to is rushing into a store to grab the first thing you come across that you think they may possibly kinda sorta like and that you can afford.

Whether we like it or not, the gifts that we give symbolize our thoughts and feelings to the recipient.  There are different feelings expressed when a potted plant is given versus a diamond tennis bracelet. And the thought that goes into giving a dozen red roses is very different from that of giving an orbital shoe shiner.

Whatever the occasion, it is imperative that you take some time and put some thought into the gift you are purchasing. Choosing the wrong gift, especially in business, can be catastrophic. However, by choosing and giving the right one you can transform even the simplest gift idea into a memorable moment.
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About The Author:

Sally Liddicoat is a Wife, Mother, Speaker and the Founder & CEO of AttaBoy! Solutions. Her goal is to help businesses increase sales, generate ongoing referrals, strengthen relationships and create loyal customers and employees through appreciation marketing. Throughout this blog you can sign up for updates, news, special offers, discounts and more. So take a look around, leave a comment or two and enjoy.

Contact Sally

Most people enjoy getting extra spending money -especially around the holidays. Surveys of American workers have concluded that 95% considered a cash bonus a positive and meaningful incentive. The only problem with giving cash is that often employees simply use the money to pay bills and quickly forget the reward.

Cash or cash substitutes (such as coupons or points that can be traded for products) do, however, give the employee flexibility in deciding how to use the reward. Since it’s their choice, the likelihood of satisfaction increases tremendously. Gift certificates and gift collections have the advantage of quick fulfillment and flexible dollar amounts. They also may or may not have expiration dates and it’s very likely that they don’t have shipping costs associated with them. They can be redeemed in a wide variety of places (including the internet) for a broad range of merchandise, from gourmet food to lawn mowers.

After numerous years consulting with clients about incentive programs I have heard stories time and time again about the reward they chose themselves while working for a previous company. One story was about a step ladder they had received close to 12 years prior. All the details were easily recalled and shared -they still have the step ladder in their pantry to this day. Even today I got to hear the story of someone receiving star awards and after receiving a certain number, redeeming them for a flash light. This was after six years… Now that is an incentive that works.

Again – give cash, and although it’s appreciated it is also quickly forgotten. Give a tangible gift, especially one where the recipient gets to choose their own reward, and it’s remembered indefinitely. The choice is yours.
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About The Author:

Sally Liddicoat is a Wife, Mother, Speaker and the Founder & CEO of AttaBoy! Solutions. Her goal is to help businesses increase sales, generate ongoing referrals, strengthen relationships and create loyal customers and employees through appreciation marketing. Throughout this blog you can sign up for updates, news, special offers, discounts and more. So take a look around, leave a comment or two and enjoy.

Contact Sally