I want to talk about the art of gifting and what it can do for your business.
You should always give gifts to your clients, and we take it a step further and give gifts to our prospective clients as well. This year, we bought people either an Amazon Echo or nice headphones from Bose or Sony. Each gift was anywhere between $150-$400.
Why give gifts? Because the recipients are going to remember you over time. It’s hard to forget someone who was especially helpful to you and gave you a gift out of the blue.
This idea sprouted from a book called the Giftology. The author, John Ruhlin, is in a group called Young Entrepreneurs Council (YEC) with me. There was a thread where people were talking about gifts in the Facebook group, and he chimed in.
John not only told me about the book, he gave me a free copy. And not just any free copy, but a carefully packaged one—a real gift. It came in a nice little bag with a handwritten note. When I opened the bag, there was another leather bag, and inside that was the book: Giftology: The Art and Science of Using Gifts to Cut Through Noise, Increase Referrals, and Strengthen Retention.
Today, when I need something amazing for my customers or for my employees and it has to be the best gift on the planet, I call John Ruhlin for ideas.
The idea behind gifting is being thoughtful about the gift you give. Ideally, you should investigate someone ahead of time, maybe on their social media profiles or their website, and see what they’re all about, see what they’re interested in.
I’ve gotten really good responses from people, especially current clients, that they’re looking forward to longer-term relationships. What we’re going to test moving forward is researching the top 10 prospects that we’re looking to work with and giving them a nice and thoughtful gift.
You have to spend $150-$400 for a gift, either. The idea is that you’re trying to build goodwill, though you shouldn’t necessarily expect to get something back from it. Once you give without expectation, it just makes your life a lot easier. And it’s 100% worth the money. It’s the same thing as throwing a mastermind dinner, a happy hour, etc. You’re just building goodwill over time.
Related Content: How To Run Masterminds That Actually Bring Business Benefits (Templates & Agendas Included)
It takes time to build up your brand, especially when you’re giving away free content like podcasts, which aren’t face to face. For example, it took me 3+ years to really get the sort of engagement I wanted on Growth Everywhere. But the second time around, with Marketing School, Neil and I got things going a lot faster; we hit a million downloads in about four months.
Learn More: Why Neil Patel Pays $30,000 for Content & Gives it Away For Free
For example, a potential client reached out about a week ago, on a Sunday. He had listened to 20 episodes of Marketing School and he said, “Hey, why don’t I just reach out?”
My point is that good things take time, just like relationships. You want to stand out, but you also want to be helpful. Good things will follow.
You never know when it’s the right time for people. But it’s never the wrong time to give a gift (or free content) to an excited prospect!
This post was adapted from Eric’s Facebook Live videos: Growth 90 – DAILY live broadcasts with Eric Siu on marketing and entrepreneurship. Watch the video version of this post:
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