Holiday Gifts for Your Clients

Jennifer Hoppenrath - Z57 REALTOR® Resource

The holiday season is an excellent time of year to reconnect with your clients through the giving of gifts. In addition to re-establishing contact with your farm, don't forget that client gifts can be a written off as a business expense at the end of your 2004 tax year! Here are some guidelines for choosing the right gifts:

Personalized Gifts for Those Special Clients

For recent homebuyers or special clients, a personalized home gift is an excellent way to welcome your new clients to their new home and begin a long term relationship. Doorknockers and doormats, lawn ornaments, or indoor plants are thoughtful gift ideas. Add the client's family name or perhaps home address on the gift, along with a hand-written letter welcoming them to the neighborhood.

2005 calendars are a common gift idea, but why not personalize yours and include your name and picture with beautiful photos of the community for every month of the year? Some popular online resources for creating personalized calendars include Calendars and More, Furture Memories, and Smart Draw Software, which allows you to create your own using your home computer. Local drugstore photo departments also often carry this service inexpensively. Include stickers or notes on the dates of local events, and don't forget to remind them to check their home's value on your website during popular selling months! Calendars are a wonderful way to remind your clients throughout the coming year to check back in on your website.

Other ways to personalize your gifts are to bake cookies or other holiday sweets yourself and deliver them in colorful tins. If you aren't the master chef, or don't have time, attaching a personal greeting to pre-made tins is appreciated as well. Costco or Sam's Club are great places to stock up on popcorn and cookie tins large enough for entire families at a price that won't stretch your budget.

Co-Marketing to Leverage Your Dollar

Don't have a lot of extra cash to send gifts this year? Try partnering with a local business such as a movie rental, babysitting service, lawn supply store, or pizza establishment and deliver holiday coupons with your name on them. Splitting the cost of direct mail can help both you and the partnering business reconnect with the community.

Another way to co-market your Realty is to sponsor local community events, such as a Santa Meet-n-Greet or a holiday parade. Instead of approaching your client base on an individual level, you can instead give a gift to the community. These events often have the added benefit of allowing you to meet people face-to-face, which is always the best possible way to establish or re-establish a relationship with your clients.

Simple and Everyday

Sometimes the simplest gifts are the ones that are the most appreciated and often used. Simple chip clips, especially the magnetic ones that attach to refrigerators, are constantly reached for kitchen utensils. Fly swatters, notepads, pens, and even lip balm aren't glamorous, but are well used, and providing they carry your logo, will serve as everyday reminders of your relationship. There are several online promotional stores that can meet your needs for these such as Captain Notepad and All About Promotions.

Whatever your gift ideas entail, try as often as possible to deliver them personally and leave your special touch. After all, your clients support your profession, and that's the biggest gift one could ask for.