Help! I don’t know what to buy my clients for Christmas

Dear Aunty B,

Buying some thank you gifts for my clients has been at the top of my to-do list for the past few weeks but now that we are into December, I realise I have to get organised.

I own a public relations firm and at this stage I only have a small number of clients. Each is extremely important to me so I want to buy them a gift that shows them that. But I don’t want to just get the obligatory bottle of wine or chocolate – I want my gift to stand out.

Do you have any suggestions for professional, yet meaningful, gifts for clients?

Rebecca,

Sydney

Dear Rebecca,

I do love this time of year; end-of-year lunches, G&Ts after work, corporate gifts …

While most business owners (myself included) won’t pass up on a nice bottle of wine or some choccies, I do appreciate that you want your gift to be that little bit extra special.

So I am going to borrow a suggestion from Evan Baehr, co-founder of tech company Able, who recently penned this piece about thanking people in your network for Harvard Business Review.

I think you should take the time to write your clients an old-fashioned, hand-written note.

But not just any note, a personal and specific note that shows just how much attention you’ve paid during your conversations and meetings with them this year and how important their business is to yours.

As Baehr writes, too often in business we receive thank you notes that are “nonspecific” and use “over-the-top adjectives that aren’t credible”. The end result is a note that feels “cold and generic”.

So, make the time to put pen to paper and tell these clients how much they mean to you. Your note will stand out and be remembered, I’m sure of it.

Be Smart,

Aunty B