If you’ve decided to give business gifts at the end of the year, give a good gift. A crummy gift is actually worse than no gift-it means you thought about it and decided the customer deserved a gift but not a good gift. I am confident Joel Spolsky would agree this this philosophy.
If you’re going to give something semi-useful, like a pen, give a good pen. Do not, I repeat DO NOT, buy cheap office supply or mail-order merchandise. Buy a good pen from a classy outfit like Farhrney’s Pens and get it engraved with something meaningful (like your URL or the go-live date of the project that came in on time and under budget). If you’re giving out a couple of thousand gifts, you’re probably not handing out Mont Blancs (unless you’re reading this from Wall Street or the Silicon Valley) but you can-must-spend at least a couple of bucks per gift. Don’t send dopey Christmas cards; you risk offending a different religion and you kill trees. Send a decent e-mail instead around the time your gift arrives (it’s reinforcement).
My telemarketing firm, Dilin Strategies Inc., send me a terrific gourmet gift basket; every single item was excellent. Linda and Diran, thank you very much. I wasn’t expecting it, you did a great job this year, I appreciate it, and I’m sure I paid your invoices promptly.
And for crying out loud, send a thank-you note! It doesn’t matter who sent you the gift: acknowledge it graciously and move on. What? You haven’t written a thank-you note since you were 12? Well, the late Leslie Harpold tells you how here. Print it, read it, and duct-tape copies to your kids’ bedroom doors.
