Thanksgiving is long over, but hopefully everyone was able to spend the holiday with family and friends.
Thanksgiving isn’t the only day to say thank you. It can be done any time of year. Many businesses choose to recognize their employees in December in different ways, from gifts of food to holiday parties to bonuses to show their appreciation.
Businesses often choose to give a gift to customers at this time of year too, though sometimes in the HVACR industry they are given closer to the time of purchase or completion of the job.
I read a blog on the U.S. Small Business Administration’s website that gave ideas on how to make the gift serve as a marketing tool. The blog had several ideas, including giving a gift with your company name and/or logo on it that will actually be used and clearly identifies the product or service you are marketing.
Giving a gift that will actually be used is a good idea, though whether or not it has to have your name or not on it is your call. If it does have your name or logo on it and it’s used more than once in a while, then the customer is more likely to think of you when it comes time to hire your company for another project or recommend it to someone else.
If the gift does not have your name or logo on it but is something that your customers will use, they may still remember you when it comes time to hiring or recommending your company. Experiences, such as a pair of tickets to a minor league game or a gift card to a local venue that allows the customers to pick out the concert they want to see, are only a couple of gift options. These gifts will be remembered the next time they need some service work done.
It might not work to have one gift that you give to every customer. It’s often best to personalize each offering based on the time you’ve spent in his or her home or business. Perhaps you may have discussed other topics or observed other things about the people you’re dealing with as well, which could help you decide what an appropriate gift might be. Do they like sports? Do they drink a lot of tea? If so, compensate accordingly.
Another tip centers on giving what you sell, though that might be a bit more of a challenge for HVACR companies than for businesses who are in other industries. Without even looking at the cost of the gift, a gift of ground coffee or a free mug is likely to be used by a coffee retailer’s customer, whereas a gift of a valve — unless it’s a part that the customer’s HVACR system needs right then — would seem out of place and could be dangerous if the customer did try to install the part himself.
Whatever it is you choose to give, and whatever present you give to your employees or customers, give them something that they’ll use, and give them a reason to remember your name.
