Inking Your Way to Better Client Relationships

As we rapidly approach the holiday gift giving season we are presented with an important opportunity to further develop your client relationships.  Most organizations allow for their employees to receive gifts during the holiday season.  There are still some that strictly prohibit receipt of any types of goods and it is important to keep that in mind.  When in doubt check with the intended recipient prior to sending anything or showing up at their door with a gift.

One of the all time favorite executive gifts continues to be pen sets.  Even with the advent of modern technology the pen will never be replaced and in fact may be gaining additional prominence.  The Cutter & Buck Collectors Edition Pen Set is one of our favorites as it includes two top of the line pens and a prestigious box.  The perceived value is outstanding and it will certainly impress your client.  The Balmain Concorde Pen Set provides a slightly more impressive value but still delivers on the quality promise.  In fact we prefer the gift box that this set comes in over most others.  It looks like it is significantly more expensive than it actually is in terms of cost.  Consideration needs to be given during this particular recession to cost, spend appropriately for the client.  On that thread the Cutter & Buck Midlands Pen Set brings affordability into the equation but still carries the prestige of a major name brand.   A study conducted several years ago concluded that writing instruments had one of the highest rates of retention of any branded item other than apparel.  If you spend time selecting the right product you have the opportunity to keep your name out there for years.  If you customer has a multiple color logo pay attention to the item and make sure it can represented the logo in multiple colors like the Balmain Allee Pen Set which can be imprinted in up to three colors.

The economy was dealt another blow late last week with consumer sentiment sliding again.  What is not helping is the fall of the dollar.  As it continues to drop the price of commodities bought with dollars will increase much like oil.  The unfortunate part of that is that although this would be a great development if we still produced goods here in the USA, the fact that we produce very little here but rely on oil so heavily is a conundrum.  We do not get the benefits of increased exports that a lower dollar would normally bring but instead have to pay the price with higher gas and oil prices despite dropping demand.  Despite some rumblings of good news as we discussed in binoculars to see through the story it is blatantly clear to any observer that the road to recovery is going to be long and bumpy.  Even more alarming is the potential for additional slides in the asset markets.  The promotional industry was dealt some heavy blows in 2009 as several major suppliers became insolvent, others were merged or bought out and still more are stumbling towards closing and are relying very heavily on this holiday season.  If consumer confidence slips in the next two weeks and the buying season disappoints it may be more than enough to push many first and second tier suppliers and dozens of distributors over the edge.