Gifting in business: Part I



The statue of Liberty - A gift from the French people to the American people




You must have given or received a gift from friends and acquaintances for some reason or another, as a show or respect, love, value may be even as a show of intention to build a closer relationship. In all, giving gifts has been around for a while, I would even dare say since the existence of mankind. It may be a gift to God (sacrifice) as a show of respect and worship, a gift to a lover to show affection, gifts to leaders (kings, queens, presidents) as a show of respect and adoration. It is true that a lot has to be considered before one can give a gift to another otherwise a good intention will end up with disastrous results. And trust me ignorance of a gift’s recipient likes and dislikes is no excuse for badly thought out gifts. Just imagine carrying a prime cut of pork as gift to a Muslim; it doesn’t matter at all how much regard you as the giver hold the gift item, when it comes to gifting its all about the receipt. If you have ever given a badly received gift you would agree with that it isn’t a good feeling to see disappointment/disgust at your well intentioned gifts.

I can go on and on about the dos and don’ts of gift giving but that would require that I write a book in several volumes because gifting is very interlinked with every peoples’ culture. And they are many cultures out there. All I can advice is that you need to consider a lot of angles especially when dealing with cultures that are not your own.

Gifting forms a big part of the business culture of the world in that millions (possibly billions) are spent every year by both big and small businesses on gifts. Gifts ranging from simple key chains and T-shirts, to high value plane tickets and collector items like wines and paintings exchange hands every year.

So as a person giving the gifts in a business setting, what must you consider? As mentioned earlier, when it comes to gifting the receiver is king, so it goes without saying that the most important thing one needs to look at the person who will be receiving the gift. This will in turn determine the value of the gift. You don’t want to find yourself in a position whereby you are handing Kibaki a key chain. The gift must be in tune to the status and place in life of the recipient. It’s not a good idea to give a gift that appears to be above the status of the person receiving it. Like giving a car to your account manager at your local bank may be misinterpreted and may even land a few people in trouble. Such a gift would be considered as overkill in a business setting. The status in life definitely determines the value (not price but value) they attach to a gift they receive.

As mentioned in the introduction the nature of the gift is also important to consider. For business reasons I would recommend something less personal or intimate. Something that can be shared in an office like a box of chocolates, or used in the course of the recipient’s line of work like a stethoscope to a doctor, or a pen to a government official (may be a coat hanger would be ideal if you know what am sayingJ).

The relationship between the giver and receiver must also be examined to ensure that no moral and legal issue may arise. The line between a gift and a bribe (greaser) is very thin and often than not very easy to cross and it is mainly because of the relationship people have. To those that hold the fate or whose decision affects the destiny of a given organisation; it would be immoral and in most countries illegal to give them a gift of high value. This breeds feelings of obligation in the recipient and may be viewed as an unfair advantage. This is even truer when dealing with government and public institutions. As the giver of the gift, it’s key to ensure that a gift is given in an open manner and doesn’t appear to be an under the table kind of gift which in that case it wouldn’t matter much what the gift was.

In case the gift is across borders/cultures then the culture of the recipient has to be considered. This is to avoid any misunderstandings that may arise for lack of knowledge of the recipient’s culture is no excuse for a gift in bad taste. For instance in Japan (the Far East countries) some numbers are considered to be bad luck while others very lucky numbers. So it follows that gifts bearing such numbers are considered lucky or unlucky. In other cultures it may not be numbers but may be some animals that are taboo or some words or some things. It’s up to the giver of the gift to consider all this.

To try and manage gifting in organizations, most organizations have come up with guidelines and policies to guide the employees on how to determine what gift is appropriate. Some policies are more extensive than others while some are poorly drafted and vague. A good policy should enable an employee intending to give a gift arrive at the right decision, firstly on whether to go ahead and give the gift, what gift is appropriate in terms of value and type, who qualifies to give a gift on behalf of the organization, and also under what circumstances the gift should be given. Such a policy should be clear and if possible with examples on several instances on how the policy applies. Lastly a policy is only good for the organization if it is well executed and implemented. There is no need for a well written guideline that just lies in a shelf gathering dust. Educating the employees on the content of the policies and promoting its understanding will ensure that the policy is well adhered to. Such a policy should also tackle the issue of how employees receive gifts because as sure as people give gifts in the course of business, they also receive them. But that is a discussion for another day in thecorneroffice. So choose your gifts wisely.

Customer Service Experience

This plays out in a banking hall

Client: Where can I get x forms

Guard: I don’t know. Do you see me carrying any forms?

Client: Shock written all over his face

Me: Shock and disgust at such a response from the guard

A customer can be referred to as a buyer, a prospective buyer, or a client. Customers can be classified as internal or external. Internal customers are the work colleagues and other departments that depend on input or service from you. External customers on the other hand are those that aren’t within the particular business entity and hence depend on the overall organization’s products or services.

Good customer service can be seen in various ways such as how we receive a phone call, how you address someone such as your workmate, supervisor, cleaner, and client, or how you communicate a setback that will affect the services or goods you provide. Good customer service is all about proper communication between the customer and service provider.

Take for example a company that doesn’t inform their customers when they are experiencing a problem with their product or service. Possibly the first instinct that a customer will have is that they (the customer) can take care of the problem and will try to correct it by themselves. Once at the end of their wit, they will contact the product manufacturer or service provider and inquire what may be at fault only to discover that it’s been in the knowledge of the provider/manufacturer.

This happens so often to mobile phone users where in case the service provider is experiencing a problem with one of their products, the users only get to know about it when they need to use it. Never mind the fact that in the case that a service doesn’t work, we the users try all the tricks we know to make it work before we turn to customer care who just apologize and inform that all that is an internal failure on their end. Leaving the customers in the dark without communicating and later apologizing will surely not help in building trust relationships that make the customer comfortable in dealing with any given business.

When you take care of customer service you will in return secure future income as you end up building your brand as a customer focused business. You won’t be found having hidden costs or charging more than you state you will charge. A company that is quick to promote a product should be as quick to also promote or advertise the change of the terms to that product. A failure to do so results in words such as unscrupulous, con-company, swindlers. The customers use your product because they trust you to give what they require. The company that betrays their customers’ trust by going behind their backs to increase charges such as tariffs without informing them, may make money in the short run but soon enough customers get to find out and abandon the company. I think they will stick with you if you are honest with them and this can be achieved by building a connection with them and the only way this is achievable is through good customer service.

Empathy I believe results to the designing of good customer service experience. Take an example of our banks. The Floor Manager should know when is the peak time or period for example end months or beginning of school terms or semesters. He should then ensure that all the teller boxes are manned. This will ensure that service is provided efficiently and effectively. I have been on a banking line for such a long time and I think if I wasn’t dozing off then I was fainting. Having gone through such an experience; if I was in the Floor Managers shoes, I would ensure that all the peak times are forecasted on and all the man power needed at the ready. Incase anyone from a bank is reading this, there is nothing more demoralizing than queuing for so long while teller booths are unmanned, it just seems as if the bank hasn’t noticed that there the floor is busy.

Within your team, department, or organization the way one deals with others determines morale and drive the others concerned have. If you are a supervisor who undermines other departments because you feel they don’t play a big role like the department you are in, or you don’t care about other departments who incidentally need information or data or input from your department and treat them poorly you are in the long run hindering the performance of others. They will not want to work with you unless they don’t have a choice and that will translate to you being bad for team morale and poor results and in the long run damage to the image of the overall organization as each teams input is key to the overall output. It is a team game, you treat your subordinates well they become loyal to you and it translates to good results. You as their supervisor you give them customer service. You as the department head of marketing or finance are the customer of say research or engineering departments and they are your customers too hence if their connection is hampered it will bring disharmony and in the spirit of synergy, you get fired.

Back to the beginning of this article, the guard was very rude and what is that they say about word of mouth; bad remarks about your service or product travel faster and wider than good remarks. No need of spending a ton on advertising yet you aren’t backing it up with the service or product. Customers don’t talk about how much you spend but how much their customer service experience was with you. Remember, as a company or a person ensure you guard against injuring your reputation because once word is out you will spend more time and other resources trying to repair the damaged which could have been saved by treating a client warmly, or another department nicely, or your team members encouragingly.

WAZZAM!!