Do You Need to Send Clients a Christmas Gift?

The holidays are fast approaching and it’s been a wild year for all of us in business.

With the holidays comes a question related to holiday communication and gifts, should you send your clients a Christmas gift or a card? Is it important for your business? Or, is there something else you should be doing?

I get this question A LOT from my clients. Every year November rolls around, I get a ton of questions on what they should or shouldn’t be doing for the holiday season. So, it’s time to chat about it.

Should You Send Clients a Christmas Gift?

Honestly, in my opinion, there’s no right or wrong answer. It depends highly on what you personally want to do and, even more importantly, what your business can afford to do. Because Christmas gifts cost money.

My best piece of advice on the matter is to consider what the cost-versus-reward on this is. Will sending a gift clearly benefit your business in some way, or is it something you’re doing because you think you have to? If the answer is the latter, then don’t send a Christmas gift.

When this question comes up with my clients, we go through a series of questions. So, if this is something on your mind, here is what you should ask yourself:

Do Your Clients Celebrate Christmas?

Not everyone celebrates Christmas. There’s nothing that says “I know nothing about you” more than sending your client something that isn’t relevant to them. If you don’t know for sure if Christmas is a holiday your clients celebrate then sending a “holiday” gift or card is more appropriate.

However, I would recommend getting to know them on a more personal note before sending them something. You don’t want to send a bottle of wine to someone who doesn’t drink or a box of chocolates to someone who can’t eat them. If you really don’t know that much about your client, I would say forgo the gift.

Do You Celebrate Christmas?

Again, not everyone celebrates Christmas, there’s no need for you to send your clients a celebration for a holiday you don’t personally celebrate. It’s important to be authentic in business, and sending something you don’t mean is not authentic.

That’s not to say you can’t send something if you don’t celebrate but you know your client does. Maybe you have a client who absolutely LOVES the Christmas season and you happen to know that. A gift, in this particular scenario, could be a nice, personal-touch gesture that could win you points down the line.

What I’m really saying here, is don’t feel obligated to send something because you feel like it’s the right thing to do. Because, honestly, it might not be.

Can You Afford Christmas Gifts? And, If You Can, Do You Want to Spend the Money?

This is the big question, and where many of my clients decide no.

Not being able to afford Christmas gifts doesn’t mean your business has no cash-on-hand, but simply means you would rather spend those hard-earned dollars elsewhere. Additionally, you can opt to by using your visa prepaid card, instead.

This year has been hard on a lot of businesses, so it’s OK for you to forgo spending extra money where you really don’t need to. Nice Christmas gifts cost a pretty penny and symbolic but ultimately useless ones collect dust. Neither is a great spending decision.

How Can You Celebrate The Holidays Without Gifts?

At the end of the day, I typically recommend sending a nice holiday email or a card instead. This is usually a much cheaper and less time-consuming way to go about it.

I often help clients build emails that have a holiday message and are filled with value-added tips their clients appreciate more than a gift basket that most people won’t eat from.

Is there something special you do for clients to mark the holidays? Share your tips and tricks in the comments below!

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