Hello everyone,
I am always wondering what the best gift can be when closing time comes so over time I started accumulating ideas from posts on this site and also from other places on the Internet.
Feel free to contribute if you know of something that you have been using and produce great results.
Mario
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Gifts that keeps coming
...Give something useful that brings your name back to memory.
-- Subscribe to MAGAZINE with my name on it!
Print Marketing Companies
By Design Publishing, (877) 423-4567, www.bydesignpublishing.com
Custom House Publishers, (888) 493-7059, www.customhousepublishers.com
Pro Step Marketing, (866) 799-9888, www.prostepmarketing.com
ReminderMedia, (610) 878-5000, www.remindermedia.com
-- Give the local newspaper to Buyers or Sellers so they can keep up with the community after they move.
-- For out or town or out of state buyers, state's magazine for a closing gift. A state's atlas and/or almanac are also well received.
-- Enroll them in your Newsletter
Thoughtful
-- Make a donation to a Children's Hospital or charity that will send a thank you card to the clients.
-- Give address labels and note cards for several years now.
Give Change of address cards - Also stamps to go along with the cards is helpful.
... Take a picture of the new house and manipulate the photo with certain
effects that changes the image of the house and make it look like it's
a watercolor, or oil painting or even a pen & ink. Then purchase blank
note cards and envelopes at Staples and print them out.
In Photoshop: Filter | Artistic | Underpainting
-- Flower arrangement on the move-in day along with a card wishing the new Buyers the best in their new home.
If your client is a single women, send a flower or plant to her work. All of her co-workers will ask her who gave her the flowers/plant.
Fixer-upper
-- log onto Lowes.com and sign the client for a 10% discount for any purchase with the Realtor program.
Family
-- A year membership for the family to the Museum, Aquarium, Amusement Park, Zoo.
-- BEACH Property, a cooler filled with all of the items they'll need for a day on the beach (towels, sunscreen, toys for the kids, snacks,
bottled water, disposable waterproof camera, a good book, etc).
-- Give the children presents. Listen, and you will know exactly what to get them be the closing date.
Buy some beach buckets and shovels from the dollar store and put in a beach ball and some other small toys
... always get the pets something too.
-- The Realtor DVD movie about the family.
General
-- Get the house number carved on a stone from a monument maker for around $50.00.
-- Gift Cards:
- ice cream, a gift certificate to Dairy Queen
- gift card from Lowe's
- movie theater
-- A digital thermometer with a remote, wireless feed from outside and a name sticker on it somewhere
-- A Storm/Weather Radio and a name sticker on it somewhere
-- A monogrammed throw. The throw will be kept for long and draped over a couch or favorite chair or rocker or end of a bed.
Adjust the monogram to suit the buyer, one person, two or family.
-- A monogram doormat from American Mat Company http://www.americanmat.com/
-- a CD with all the documents from the Transaction.
-- a Visual Tour personal inventory of their new home after they have unpacked.
Burn this to a CD/DVD. Suggest using it for insurance inventory policies on their new home.
Food
-- Bottle of champagne and two champagne glasses, a small bakery box of two chocolate strawberries and two petit-fours.
-- Wine carafes made with your company name on the bottom and a note saying- Welcome to your new home.
-- A basket of cookies with balloons to the clients' workplace
-- Give the "Entertainment Books".
Move-in Day, Basket
JMK Ribbons offers a selection of ribbons that you can have your company name printed on.
-- Immediate need Box
I put together a box of "immediate need" items and deliver it to the house personally after closing
(or leave it in the house prior to closing so that it is there waiting for them).
The box is usually actually a
trash can and inside it is
toilet paper,
trash bags,
paper towels,
409, and some sort of snack. A Pizza delivery is a great surprise on move-in day, especially when there are hungry kids
Or a Styrofoam cooler (with our name & info) filled with their favorite snacks and drinks.
We know this info because during the purchasing process we had them complete a survey asking about their favorite things.
"MOVING DAY SURVIVAL KIT"
WICKER LAUNDRY BASKET from Michael's (as in the craft supply store)
PLASTIC DROP CLOTH - can be used for 2 baskets
RED BOW
FLASHLIGHT
LIGHT BULBS
SCREWDRIVER
1 ROLL OF PAPER TOWELS
1 DISH TOWEL
BAG OF SPONGES
DISH WASHING LIQUID
WINDEX
TRASH BAGS
BATHROOM TISSUE
SPRAY CLEANER
EXTENSION CORD
TOOTH BRUSH
TOOTH PASTE
SOAP
PAPER CUPS
PAPER NAPKINS
PAPER PLATES
PLASTIC UTENSILS
WRITING PAD
BOX OF MICROWAVE POPCORN
CANDY BARS
Comb or Brush
Scrub Pad
Hand Soap
Dishwasher Soap
Laundry Detergent
Deck of Cards/Games
Hand Cream
Facial Tissue
Raman Noodles
Hot Chocolate
Small Tool Kit
... also include some business cards, business pens and note pads.
-- For move in, find out when the moving truck is scheduled to arrive, then show up a bit later with a home cooked simple meal of
spaghetti with meat sauce,
a big salad,
one or two salad dressings,
water and soda,
paper napkins, paper plates and plastic forks and of course cups to drink from.
If you are not the cooking type get a couple of fried (any flavor you like) chickens with baguettes (white bread) or rolls anything you think your clients would like.
That way they don't have to go out for food, but can take a break and continue working.
More Expansive, Luxury Homes...
-- A vacation
-- Maid service for a year (or two in this case!)
-- An oil painting of their current home
-- An oil painting of them or their children
-- Child care services, if appropriate, for a year
-- A gift from a high-end shop such as Nordstrom's, Neiman Marcus http://www.neimanmarcus.com/index.jhtml
;)
;)
