What Are You Buying for Your Clients This Year or Years to Come?
I have been visiting my son in NV for the past week and had plenty of time reading up online, mostly real estate-related. One of the repetitive discussions in real estate groups was “what are you buying for your clients?”. Of course, each agent is different and they do what they think makes the best sense for their business and their client relationship.
One question I ask is:
-Am I giving gifts with the expectations of receiving business? As I see it, most people don’t reach out to a REALTOR® based on the types of presents other clients have received from them. In fact, past clients most likely forget what their agent sent to them as a present at the end of the year.
Let’s think about this;
-An agent with 110 past and present clients delivers a small poinsettia they purchased for $4.95 each x 110 clients=$2824.50. These are very small poinsettias, the receivers may think the agent was too cheap to purchase a large one for $19.95 for each. Of course they don’t know the agent has 110 clients they’re doing this for. They may not even like poinsettias.
How about cookies? I don’t know about anyone else, but I am extremely picky when it comes to food. If I don’t know the person who baked them well enough, I’m not going to eat them. Ohh, also, I don’t like sweets.
Alcohol of all kinds, you truly have to know the person so you can purchase something they would enjoy, otherwise, what’s the point? The same with celebratory cigars (do they smoke?), housewarming gifts (will they think this is cheesy?), and the list goes on and on. Your kind gesture may miss the mark and gain you a sneer rather than a smile. 
Closing gifts, birthday gifts, Christmas gifts, New Years' gifts to me are personal. I just don’t understand why I should consider purchasing hundreds of pies, wrapping paper etc not knowing if the recipient would enjoy them.
Another thing to consider, we work tirelessly to help our clients buy or sell their homes and provide them the utmost satisfaction with the entire process as it can be a very stressful time in someone’s life. I’ve personally hired and paid for cleaning crews, paid for lawn service etc to help them get their homes sold quickly for the most money. Should I expect a gift from them at the end of the year?
Whatever you choose to do, just think about the receiver and purchase gifts accordingly. There’s no one size fits all when it comes to gifts so sleep on that “bulk gift” idea. I personally truly appreciate a handwritten card or a card sent via email. That is just my preferance.
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