In today’s competitive market a corporate relationship is the most important thing to make a business thrive and expand even while keeping the goodwill intact. In this context, gifting plays a major role. Corporate relationships can be formed and maintained by appropriate corporate gifting practices and strengthening personal relationships.

An apt corporate gift speaks a million words and expresses a million feelings. A gift given to a client on him birthday lets him know the company treats him as family and thus remembers every important day of his life. This builds a better rapport with the person and makes him or her feel important.

A gift given to a major business stakeholder/ partner is a display of joy and also shows a feeling closeness. It should have a personal touch to it. For example, if a card is added or any such small thing makes a big difference. When gifting a logo plays a major role if it’s properly positioned and displayed.

It should be remembered that the gift your company representative offer should not be tacky. They should be wrapped properly and should look elegant. Another important thing to remember is the position or status of the client, if he or she is a senior person in the client firm, a gift should be so selected and presented that it suits the person’s standing.

Obviously, there are specific reasons that you have in mind for gifting. In other words, you would want to pick a gift that amply reflects your mindset or one that goes with the occasion on which it is being sent. Your gift should ideally reflect that feeling of ‘satisfaction’ and ‘joy’ while presenting it to make the recipient pleased so that the latter truly likes it. He would appreciate your thoughtful gesture and be inclined to continue doing business with you.

It can be a real challenge, rather a test of your business skills to be able to find, wrap and present the perfect gift for a corporate client or colleague. Remember, corporate gift giving etiquette is a crucial aspect that you can leave in the hands of inexperienced people. Only specialists or skilled branding experts should deal with it. You cannot afford to take any chances with your process of selecting and presenting a good gift for clients.

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Corporate houses do everything possible to garner goodwill during the festive season. These are the times when companies gift their employees and clients. For example, to let their employees enjoy the Navratri festival, they even gift free passes for occasions like ‘Dandia Raas’.

Navratri, the season of nine nights, is celebrated with much glitter and glamour. It entails traditional dance types like garbas, dandia with the devotional songs in respect of Mother Amba and Mother Kaali. The people come together to have the blessings of the eternal mother, celebrate her presence within them and wish each other. Even celebrities join in the celebration of this traditional ritual of dance.

The profile of employees has become younger so it’s not surprising that several firms opt to celebrate such joyous occasions in the campus itself. Many companies join in the celebrations by gifting them traditional Navratri robes and free passes to the nine festive nights.

Many corporate houses sponsor local Navratri groups as part of innovative marketing methods to join the camaraderie during Navratri. Many of them come up with novel ideas like ‘designer dandias’.

True essence of corporate gifting is embedded in the fact that companies want to build a good relationship with their clients/customers. If the act of gifting motivates employees, corporate gifting at another level is part of a larger marketing & branding activity. It helps reconnect and re-establish a relationship with the key clients.

Festivals are a form of gettogether for most people across India. Festivals like Holi, Diwali, Christmas, Ganesh Festival and Navratri are rituals that are celebrated with great fervor, fun and frolic. This is the time of the year when corporate gifting takes place in a broader social context imparting a larger meaning to it. It acquires a whole new connotation during the festive season.

Gifting clients on such occasions is a must to spread brand identity and generate goodwill. Corporate gifting during  festivals is an opportunity to grow a company’s business that must be fully capitalized.

Tags: promotional gifts, gifting to clients, business gifting, business gift baskets, Gifting events, Corporate gifting, corporate gifting for employees, gifting india, promotional products,

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Corporate houses do everything possible to garner goodwill during the festive season. These are the times when companies gift their employees and clients. For example, to let their employees enjoy the Navratri festival, they even gift free passes for occasions like ‘Dandia Raas’.

Navratri, the season of nine nights, is celebrated with much glitter and glamour. It entails traditional dance types like garbas, dandia with the devotional songs in respect of Mother Amba and Mother Kaali. The people come together to have the blessings of the eternal mother, celebrate her presence within them and wish each other. Even celebrities join in the celebration of this traditional ritual of dance.

The profile of employees has become younger so it’s not surprising that several firms opt to celebrate such joyous occasions in the campus itself. Many companies join in the celebrations by gifting them traditional Navratri robes and free passes to the nine festive nights.

Many corporate houses sponsor local Navratri groups as part of innovative marketing methods to join the camaraderie during Navratri. Many of them come up with novel ideas like ‘designer dandias’.

True essence of corporate gifting is embedded in the fact that companies want to build a good relationship with their clients/customers. If the act of gifting motivates employees, corporate gifting at another level is part of a larger marketing & branding activity. It helps reconnect and re-establish a relationship with the key clients.

Festivals are a form of gettogether for most people across India. Festivals like Holi, Diwali, Christmas, Ganesh Festival and Navratri are rituals that are celebrated with great fervor, fun and frolic. This is the time of the year when corporate gifting takes place in a broader social context imparting a larger meaning to it. It acquires a whole new connotation during the festive season.

Gifting clients on such occasions is a must to spread brand identity and generate goodwill. Corporate gifting during  festivals is an opportunity to grow a company’s business that must be fully capitalized.

Tags: Business etiquette, Gifting events, Corporate gifting, corporate gifting for employees, Gifting occasions, corporate gifts companies, business gifting, business gift baskets, Business Gifting
Corporate gifting, gifting etiquette

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In a series of informative essays, Giftex has explained how gift cards are perfect for personal as well as corporate gifting. Interestingly, amidst today’s challenging economic environment, a new trend has been witnessed in the western countries. Corporate entities are offering gift cards to encourage their employees to remain mentally and physically fit.  

They are being given incentives to lose weight and quit smoking. According to an interesting survey, as employers continue to experiment for improving the wellness, health and productivity of their workforce, incentives like gift cards are being recognized as a crucial aspect of a full-fledged health management strategy.

A news report states that increasing number of corporate houses in the US are offering gift cards as an incentive to workers.

The value of incentives offered is typically 100 to 300 US dollars per person. per year, a survey found out. In fact, well over three-quarters of leading US employers now offer formal health & wellness programs, whereas more than half of them run disease management programs.

The survey found the usage of incentives along with health & wellness programs significantly increased. Gift cards are among the top incentive choices in the financial year gone by, with their usage going up to 28 percent from just 17 percent in the previous year, whereas the usage of cash bonuses as well as lower premiums declined during the same period.

More than a quarter of those offering programs have managed to successfully measure the return on their investment (RoI), up from just 14 percent. Of those employees who took the measure, 83 percent noted they ‘more than broke even’ compared with just 66 percent last year.

More employers are expected to resort to this strategy in the new year so that their workers take better care of themselves. Employees can pocket a good amount of money by entering a smoking cessation program or undergoing a personal health assessment or. They can avoid an additional surcharge on their health insurance by finishing the anti-smoking program.

It is time that the corporate India also take the similar ‘healthy’ gifting strategy to encourage their workers and employees to stay fit.

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“Ever spent hours just wandering from store to store, searching for a gift for someone, which would be useful still not a commonplace one? Why not consider an option that has been around for quite a while, though is still relatively unknown.”

These are the lines from an interesting article in the Business Line publication that explains how a gift card can make a really ‘presentable’ idea. Incidentally, it can also be a perfect Rakhi gift. 

The writer of this informative essay, Bhavana Acharya is referring to a prepaid gift card.

Clearing some basic things about it, she mentions: “You may think that a gift card and a gift voucher are one and the same. Well, even though they are closer to each other in conceptual terms, there is slight difference between the two.

Let us try to follow how and where the two differ.”

• Basically speaking, a gift card is a hybrid between a debit card and a gift voucher. Being so, it provides the receiver with a twin advantage – flexibility of the former with the functionality of the latter.

• A prepaid gift card is fashioned after a debit card and a gift voucher, combining their beneficial features.

• A prepaid gift card is worth a fixed amount of sum. It can
be swiped, well at any top mall or shopping complex.

• Depending on your budget and the money you want to spend for the person, you can determine its value. Accordingly, you may load the amount on it. It is entirely up to you, making it absolutely convenient. For example, if your gifting budget allows you to spend not more than Rs 1,000, you can purchase a gift card exactly worth that denomination. Obviously, the person whom you are gifting it will be able to make a purchase of his choice up to Rs 1,000. 

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In our recent blog, we discussed a unique initiative by Hindustan Unilever for all its employees. The company has set certain parameters that are meticulously measured, and a score is given to each employee on a vitality index score card.

The lower is the score, the better is an employee’s vitality;  a score of 0 to 4 puts the employee concerned in the green zone, a score of 5 to 6 slots one in the amber zone and a 7 plus score puts one in the red zone. Each employee is informed about his/her personal vitality score/color zone in a confidential manner.

Such relation building programs are a big boost to the employees’ morale and far more gainful than mere monetary rewards and incentives.  Of course, these measures succeed only if there’s a buy-in at the top! The top management committee ensured this. Another challenge was to create a buzz around the initiative. Mailers and posters like ‘Do you see red every time you see a staircase?’, or ‘Cool as a cucumber about your health? Don’t wait till it becomes red-hot’ were circulated.

In the next stage, employees were prompted to improve their vitality scores by conducting workshops  across the company’s different locations, through events such as Family Day, Walkathons, Vitality Exhibitions, nutritional menu counseling etc. Interactive sessions were held to teach the employees about the concept of BMI, ways of improving lifestyle, healthy diet to avoid/reduce weight gain as well as proper exercises for weight management.

The focus has been on scientific exercise methods, correct practical nutritional advice, and stress management techniques. The aim is to create health awareness so as to attain better fitness levels and enhanced lifestyle patterns. Workshops are conducted on post-retirement health planning for managers. At a basic level, the vitality index project reflects common sense: The healthier your employees, the more likely they’re to be (efficient) at work.

Tags: Cheap corporate gifts, low cost gifts, business gift baskets, Popular corporate gifts, Worst gifts, gifting etiquette, Gifting occasions, business gifting, promotional products, Best corporate gifts

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The recession has left quite a many people without jobs, leaving behind many more insecure about their futures. The smarter ones though, are always thinking long-term going beyond such slumps. They are not worried about ups and downs in life. They want to ensure that they become indispensable in the organizational set-up.

This can be made possible by persistently enhancing your work skills. You constantly need to reinvent yourself. This again is a skill in itself that can be learnt and passed on.

In case you want to offer one of your despondent friends or colleagues a helping hand, you can do so through a host of inspirational and self-help books. Those looking to move on having lost a job will find solace in spiritual and philosophical readings. And the more adventurous ones already thinking beyond jobs, to turn entrepreneurs in their own right, will get the motivation from your timely gift.

Of course, not every one has the confidence and drive to take that radical step, and few indeed can afford going back to B-school. So to feel the breach many advice-providers and authors of how-to business books step in. They tell you how to remain unruffled by the downturn.

We have already checked some titled that might make good gifts in today’s tough times in our recent blog. Here are some more ideas. ‘The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari’, a self-help fable about an individual who had everything and simply gave it up for the sake of his soul, is right on top of the heap. But what is the current trend? “Now it’s more human-oriented,” Sugata Ghosh, head of commissioning, Sage Publications stated in a recent interview, summed up the business-books market orientation.

So even while Robin Sharma’s boom-time hit retains its popularity, many new and upcoming releases tell a different tale. Jaico has on offer a series of affordable business books. ‘The 60 Second Self-Starter’ is a simple, effective, hands-on guide, which one can use to dismantle obstacles acting as barriers to productivity.

The crucial tip offered: “Keep your frustration level low and your energy level high.” Here’s another one: “Theory of Constraints sermonizes that the goal is making money at present, and for the future! Here, ‘future’ is as important as ‘present’.”

Such words of wisdom sound optimistic as well as practically useful. “People want a feel-good factor, a hope for better times” points out Krishan Chopra, chief editor-publisher of HarperCollins. You can impart that hope by gifting something like this Hachette title: ‘I Will Teach You to Be Rich: No Guilt. No Excuses. No B.S. Just a 6-Week Program that Works’ by Ramit Sethi.

Tags: Gifting occasions, promotional products, corporate gifts companies, Popular corporate gifts, Business etiquette, business gifting, Best corporate gifts, gifting etiquette, gifting to clients, low cost gifts

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The market has been in an uptrend since hitting a bottom in the month of March. However, when the stocks were beaten down, one asset class that had drawn huge attention was gold ETF. This particular fund was in spotlight because gold prices had zoomed. Since then they have lost their shine just a bit!

For savvy investors this offers a good opportunity to enter these schemes at a lower price level with their NAV (net asset value) having fallen. You can sure consider gifting someone gold ETFs.

ETFs are quite similar to a mutual fund scheme. Instead of investing the corpus in equity shares, the money collected is invested in gold. There are schemes on offer from Kotak, Reliance, UTI, Quantum and SBI mutual fund for buying gold ETFs. Unfortunately, investors are still unaware of buying and gifting gold in the electronic form. If you strike early, it will make a worthwhile present.

Buying gold in electronic form requires a shift in mindset, something which shouldn’t be difficult considering most of us already possess other valuable assets in a similar form. As tax consultant Sandeep Shanbhag mentions in a recent article, ‘Think of the money lying in a bank account. Whether Rs 10,000 or Rs 10 lakh or a crore, it’s your bank passbook that indicates the amount you own.

“Similarly, not too long ago, physical share certificates were required to be delivered and kept. Then we gradually shifted to electronic holding. An investor’s life thus became more convenient. Similarly, gold too can be owned in the dematerialized, electronic form. It is a safer and more efficient way to own it.”

As we have mentioned above, there are many good schemes on offer from reputed fund houses. If you can gift gold ETFs to someone dear to you, the glitter of gold will remain with the person forever and add to his or her wealth as well.

Tags: , business gifting, gifting india, promotional products, Gifting occasions, low cost gifts, Business etiquette, corporate gifting for employees, Best business gifts, business gift baskets

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The gesture of gifting has now taken a whole new context and meaning. Ethical gifting seems to be the buzzword, not restricted to the corporate sector alone. The trend now encompasses a range of actions like raising funds for a noble cause or pledging your wonderful wedding gift, supporting and helping an NGO, etc.

A DNA India news report by Sanghamitra Bhowmik points out that gifting has taken on an entirely new dimension with the internet. GiveIndia’s is one among the noteworthy innovations. The site has a webpage titled ‘iGive’, which can be used by visitors to raise funds for a specific cause or mission that they support or espouse.

Amita Chauhan of GiveIndia has been quoted as saying: “We once had a couple that donated the money they had received in gift during their wedding to an NGO of their choice.” 

Gifting eco-friendly products also has caught the fancy of the socially conscious class.
The proprietor of eco-friendly gift shop Eco Corner, Urvashi Mody has been in the business for over two and a half years. They already have several repeat customers for such gifts. Mody sources these eco-friendly products from across the country, as she claims. Her shop displays a variety of them including jute items, stationary, craft products designed by the tribal people and the underprivileged.

Nyassa in the western suburbs of Mumbai is another body that has on offer its line of nourishing natural body & beauty products that it produces and distributes. It was launched in 2007 by Ishwin Anand. The products are manufactured with essential oils and entirely natural materials.

Eco-friendly packaging is also becoming popular.

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Post terror attacks in Mumbai, security has become a big concern not only for corporate houses but also for homeowners. In such a scenario, gadgets that enhance and add to the safety and security of your stay at home and office will make a much appreciated gift. Here we present a range of security items that you can consider for gifting to your friends and relatives:
   
1. Burglar Alarm System- Its vital features are as follows:
Detects intrusion;
Wireless, 24×7 remote monitoring;
Detects gas leak;
Remote keys;
Easy to operate;
Price (approximate) Rs. 8000

  
2. B/W Video Door Phone- Its vital features are as follows:
Clear, bright pictures;
Allows 2-way communication;
Cast iron outdoor unit;
Visibility up to 25 ft
Price (approximate) Rs. 8000
    

3. Colour Video Door Phone- Its vital features are as follows:
Clear, bright pictures;
Crystal-clear speaker system;
Price (approximate) Rs. 17500
 

4. Electronic Gas Leak Sensor- Its vital features are as follows:
Detects gas leak;
In-built hooter gets activated;
2-hr battery back up;
Fire-proof
Resistant to extreme temperatures
Price (approximate) Rs. 1000

Zicom Electronic Security Systems Ltd. is a leading player in the domain of corporate security products. Their latest venture is Retail Products (for HOME and RETAIL) courtsey which they have realeased several home safety products.

Image courtsey: Zicom

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