Many businesses commonly give presents to their clients, partners, and employees. They typically do this as a sign of appreciation for their efforts and great work.
The gesture is also a way to celebrate milestones and special holidays like Christmas. While it’s a great opportunity to strengthen business relationships, giving certain gifts or the manner they are given should be done with care and follow certain etiquette.
To ensure you avoid creating an awkward situation, you must be aware of the proper gift-giving etiquette in the professional setting. This way, you can make sure your presents are well-received and don’t cause any undue offense.
Choose the Best Time to Send Gifts
Choosing the perfect time to give a gift is very important. While it’s popular to give gifts during the Christmas season, you don’t have to limit giving presents during the holidays.
You can also send gifts to your partners or clients to mark a special occasion. For instance, if you just closed a deal or successfully completed a project, you can send your clients some celebratory drinks along with custom shot glasses or wine glasses.
Aside from it being a nice gesture, it’s also a fantastic way to say congratulations.
As much as you want to show your appreciation, you also need to be mindful of how your gesture may appear to the recipient.
While your intention may be to incentivize people you’re working with, it may inadvertently look like you’re bribing them.
So be very considerate when giving gifts. If you want to avoid issues, you can limit gift-giving to special celebrations and events.
Select an Appropriate Present
Even if you’re purchasing a gift for people you work with directly, remember to pick items that are appropriate in a professional setting that the recipient will appreciate.
While it’s tempting to give a humorous present, some people may take offense to it. So, it’s best to steer clear and choose something more practical like office supplies.
In the case of giving gifts to people outside your organization, you also need to tread carefully when choosing the perfect gift.
While picking an item that will reference an inside joke may seem like a fun idea, they may not appreciate your humor and feel slighted for receiving such a gift.
If you’re not careful, it may even put a strain on the business relationship. Since it can be difficult to gauge how people will react to those kinds of gifts, buy items that are useful and all-inclusive instead such as gift cards and food baskets.
Pick Items the Recipient Will Enjoy
If you’ve been working with a group or individual for quite some time now, you may want to send a gift that’s a bit more personal and will show you considered the recipient’s interests.
For example, if your business partner or client loves their morning coffee, you can give them a gift card from their favorite coffee shop.
You can also send them a pack of coffee beans that they can brew at home.
Carefully Consider Your Budget
Picking the amount to spend on a gift is one of the challenging parts of observing proper business gift-giving etiquette.
It can be difficult to gauge if the item you give will seem like it has a reasonable value. In the case of buying something for your team, your main consideration should be what you can afford. You can use your budget as a guide on the item you’ll give.
On the other hand, you need to be more careful when it comes to purchasing items for your partners, vendors, or clients.
Some organizations put spending limits on what their employees can accept. In that case, make sure you don’t give extravagant gifts that will go against any restrictions that they may have.
Avoid Leaving People Out
When giving gifts to your team, make sure you get something for everyone. It’s also best to choose gifts of equal value to avoid appearing like you’re playing favorites.
Also, apply a similar strategy when sending gifts to people outside your organization. If you’ve been working with multiple individuals in another company, remember to get them all gifts of similar value.
Avoid singling out anyone with something lavish than what you give to others.
Give Away Tasteful Branded Gifts
Many businesses typically order items with their logos printed on them such as tote bags, mugs, and pens. As long as they’re done tastefully, these branded objects can make for great gifts.
You might also want to consider choosing items that are useful for the recipient, quality-made and have understated logos.
You want the recipient to feel appreciated and not like you’re just promoting your business to them.
Be Considerate of Other People’s Customs
Not everyone celebrates certain holidays like Christmas due to their personal beliefs and religion. When giving away gifts, make sure to take note of those individuals.
To avoid making them feel uncomfortable without leaving them out of the celebration, give them a fairly generic gift with a widely acceptable message.
If you transact business with international partners or clients, keep in mind that they may observe different etiquette when it comes to gift-giving.
Make sure to do your research about their local customs before you purchase your present. It will help you avoid making an embarrassing social faux pas.
Giving gifts is a fantastic way to show your appreciation towards your team, clients, and business partners. However, you must take note of the proper gift-giving etiquette in the professional and business setting.
This way, your intentions will not be misunderstood and your gesture will be well-received.
