corporate gift sales Archives - Attention Getting Marketing

Want to know how to get Corporate Holiday Gift orders? You need to start approaching local companies now about what their plans are for both Christmas gifts for employees and for their clients.

Obviously, for a lot of businesses this has been a difficult year, and this might be something they decide to forgo. However, it is a great opportunity to do volume sales, and with the push to support and buy local right now, you do have this in your favor.

Action Plan for Corporate Gift Orders

Research 10 to 20 local companies that are doing well, have not laid off employees, and have at least 50+ employees. Just Google “list of local companies with 50 or more employees”.
Pitch to HR Managers for employee gifts and to Sales Managers for client gifts.
Approach the HR or Sales Manager of each company by sending a short email pitch. If you need names, find them by doing a search on LinkedIn. You can also message them on LinkedIn as opposed to sending an email.
In the email headline put, Do you need Client & Employee Holiday Gift Ideas from Local Businesses?
If you have a business LinkedIn page, post an article about Corporate Gift Ideas for 2023 with links to your business and it might get found in searches by HR and Sales Managers.
If you can drop off a sample to a HR or Sales Manager, even better.
If you can offer any corporate branding or personalization as part of the product offering, this would give you an advantage i.e. mugs with the company logo.
Be sure to mention that you can ship directly to recipients, in the case of gifts for the business’ clients.
Mention at the end of the email how you appreciate their support of local businesses.
Go to the business writer at your local newspaper and pitch this as a possible story idea, with you giving a quote as to how your business will be fulfilling corporate gift orders. Sample pitch “How Local Companies Can Help Support Small Businesses this Holiday Season”.

Most Popular Corporate Gifts

Gift cards (44%)
Apparel (39%)
Food/beverages (25%)
Drinkware (18%)
Desk accessories (18%)
Calendars (16%)
Writing instruments (14%)
Electronics (12%)
Bags/luggage (12%)
Sporting goods (12%)
Jewelry/watches (6%)

So don’t wait. Start sending out emails in late August. If you sell on Etsy and haven’t gotten my best-selling Etsy Shop Holiday Planner you are missing out on key opportunities.

by Gail Oliver, Online Marketing Consultant

If you really want to guarantee big sales this holiday season, one market you’ll want to consider targeting is the corporate market, and you will want to start preparing for it now.

According to a report from the Advertising Specialty Institute (ASI), last year companies were planning to spend $43 per customer (or prospective customer) on Christmas gifts and $50 per employee.

Typical gifts for customers were food baskets, bottles of wine, and desk accessories. Typical gifts for employees were gift cards, food/beverages, apparel and cash. 68% of corporate gifts will bear a company logo (for obvious reasons).

Therefore, do you offer a product and/or service that would be suitable as a corporate and/or employee gift?

How to Make Sure Your Products Work for Corporate Gifts

Personalization – It would really help your chances if you allow for personalization of your product as companies do use corporate gifts as an advertising medium.
Gift Packaging – If your products already come pre-packaged, ready for gift giving, you will be saving the company time and money.
Quantities – Don’t approach a company with 500 employees if you can’t turnaround high quantities of product in a short time.
Delivery – Companies will want to start sending out their corporate gifts in early December (but they will order in September and October), and hand out employee gifts in the first two weeks of December, so you will have to be able to meet these deadlines.
Distribution – The company may want you to actually send the gifts directly to their clients, so make sure this is a service that you can offer.

How to Get Corporate Gift Sales

You are best to approach local companies as they will typically want to support another local company.
Employee gifts are usually sourced by the human resources department, so start there by hand delivering a sample (with gift packaging) and price list (with discounts for quantities ordered) to the Human Resources Manager (find names on LinkedIn).
Mention to the HR Manager that your product/service would also work well as gifts for clients, customers and prospects, and they will likely pass this information along to the Sales Manager.
Printout references and reviews from previous customers to give them some assurance as to the quality of your product/service.
Make sure you understand the company’s business, their customers and their employees. For example, if the majority of their staff is young women, they will not be interested in men’s wallets.
Approach companies in early October. September is too early and November is too late.

By the way, my 2017 Etsy Shop Marketing Plan does indicate that this is the month for sending out corporate gift inquiries, so if you haven’t downloaded my plan yet, you are missing out on other great sales opportunities.