Gifting Plans That Work!

All of us know great quotes on planning:

“An hour of planning can save you 10 hours of doing.” - Dale Carnegie

“Plans are worthless, but planning is invaluable.” - Peter F Drucker

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And perhaps one of our favourites:

“Make time for planning. Wars are won in the General’s tent.” - Stephen R Covey

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While we all know that there are many differences (and similarities) between businesses and battlefields, the one sterling feature of success is the Plan. Business planning has to take care of diverse aspects and one important component is fostering better relationships - internal and external. 

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And this is where planning your corporate gifting strategy works really well!

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What is the advantage of planning?
Throughout the year there are many milestones that are crossed by a growing business and its team. These milestones include:

• Employee retirements
• Personal events - birthdays, weddings, anniversaries
• New hires
• Work anniversaries and so on

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Then there are seasonal holidays galore and of course business milestones too. These could include:

• Marking the founding of the company
• Achieving sales targets
• Getting a certain number of followers on social media and so on

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There are annual trade shows and important meetings that are scheduled well ahead of time too. 

Every event can be planned for, well in advance. This helps you avoid a last-minute scramble for the perfect gift. 

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Getting organised

Online gifting platforms can help you get organised very quickly. With multiple categories such as Health & Wellness, Apparel, Office Supplies, Snacks & Beverages, Technology, Drinkware and so on, a platform like GiftCloud does make it easy to do your gift shopping. 

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You could also do your shopping according to budget. It all boils down to having a ‘shopping list’. This helps immensely when you have to place bulk orders or customised boxes. The more lead time you have, the less stressful it is. For instance, a trade show needs goodies in large numbers. You may also have the need to give away bundled gifts or gifts in branded bags. The choices are almost endless. Managing delivery schedules, catering for all kinds of disruptions, and so on become so much smoother with forethought, isn't it. 

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Planning your calendar of gift giving also helps when you are sending gifts to remote workers or clients and customers who are in different geographical locations. A great gift meets two important criteria:

1. It is a great gift by itself of course!
2. It gets delivered in time 

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If a customer is celebrating a milestone, you would like to see the gift reaching them on that specific day and for that, planning in advance is very important.

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It’s good strategy

Finally, corporate gifting is a strategy because it delivers benefits such as brand building, customer loyalty, employee morale, supplier engagement, and so on. Having a plan for buying and sending gifts dovetails neatly into your larger marketing strategy as well. 

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At the end of the day, there really is no need to delay the process of planning your gifting process. It can prove to be highly beneficial for your business, your reputation, and your brand.

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