Originally the term “Do the trick" meant to successfully accomplish a robbery or other such illegal business. It has become better known as a way to indicate that something you do gets you what you want. If you want to say thank you and show your appreciation to business associates and customers, giving business gifts can “Do the trick and fit the bill.



A few other reasons why business owners want to give business gifts include: to solidify the customer - business relationship and to ensure customers or clients want to continue to do business with your company or service. Because business gifts are used to encourage a long-term relationship, it is important that you select gifts you know your clients will value and feel valued when they receive them.

The selection of the perfect business gift is not happenstance. It is the result of careful thinking, knowing and understanding your customer base. In fact the process can be narrowed down to four basic steps. Read on to learn what these steps include.

Step One – Be aware of what your company’s rules and policies are related to business gift giving. An example is if your company does business with a state or federal agency, it is unlikely they will accept of business gift from you due to their own specific policies and regulations. So, don’t try to give a business gift to an agency who can not accept them and put the customer in the embarrassing position of having to say “no thank you."

It is also important, if there is more than one company agent, that all agents or representatives follow the same rules and procedures to ensure all clients are treated equally. You do not want one client to find out that another client received a gift basket and they didn’t.

Before you go out and purchase a business gift, be sure you know who is going to pay for it. Is it to come out of your pocket or the company pocket?

Step Two – Know what your colleagues are doing for the clients or customers you have in common. You do not want to be upstaged or down-staged. Talking with the other people in the company who have the same clients is the best way to keep this embarrassing incident from happening. This open line of communication will ensure that an equal, or proportional, amount of the business gifting budget is available to all clients or customers.

Step Three –Align or match your business gift with the company or client who is receiving it. No matter whether your client specializes in the sports industry or the designer shoe industry, try to select a gift that is meaningful relative to their line of industry. A gift basket with tickets to local sporting events would be received with joyous celebration by the sporting industry client and maybe with less enthusiasm by the designer shoe client.

Step Four – Align your gift to the personal interests of the client. This recommendation is different than the one given in Step Three as it is focusing on giving your client a gift that is meant for them personally or as an individual. To do this effectively, you really need to have a fairly close relationship with them so you can target your gift to an interest or passion they have such as a giving a donation to a particular charity they value.

Business gift giving can do the trick when it comes to solidifying a business relationship that is based on honesty and trust.