As much as we may be afraid to admit it, it’s that time of year again: holiday shopping time. In some posts later this season, I’ll share some fun gift ideas for the design-savvy people in your life, but let’s first focus on a different gifting dilemma. What (if anything) do you give your clients for the holidays, and how do you go about doing it?

A gift can be a warm expression of thanks and a pleasant reminder of your availability, or it can seem a blatant attempt at sucking up.

First off, send a note to anyone who paid you this year - nothing fancy, just a simple card with a friendly thank you. A generic “Happy Holidays” message is usually best. Try to steer clear of religious themes. Address the card to the person you dealt with most or the entire team, and always sign the card yourself. (Printed envelope labels are fine though.) Be sure to send the card to the office; having it delivered to a client’s home is usually not appropriate.

If you have a lot of clients, you might consider designing your own holiday cards. You can use a small printing service like moo.com or psprint.com to print them. The extra bit of design will be appreciated and will remind your clients of your skills.

Consider sending a gift only to your top clients, the ones you’d like to work with more. Sure, you’re sucking up a bit, but you’re also letting them know that you appreciate all the good work that they’ve sent your way. The gift should be simple, inexpensive, and tasteful, and again, be sure it’s addressed to the team and delivered to the office.

Remember, you’re not in a high-powered Wall Street business, so you’re not expected to send your clients season tickets or a sets of golf clubs. Besides, you don’t want the client to think you’re rolling in cash; you want more work, right? Try some of these ideas:

- Plants or fruit baskets. These are things the whole office can enjoy. Companies like Edible Arrangements put together really nice pieces, though the high prices mean they should be lavished on only your most important clients. Simple plants are fine for most.

- An item designed by you. You designed your own holiday cards; why not design some for your clients as well? It’s a gift they’re sure to appreciate, assuming of course that it’s delivered with plenty of time to spare. You could also create a nice print of their logo or some other favorite design element and have it framed for display in the client’s office.

- For individuals, you can do something a little less generic. Look for a gift that suits the person’s tastes, for example a box of chocolates, a coffee table art book, or a small donation to his or her favorite charity. Avoid getting too personal though. Unless you and the client are good friends, you want to err on the side of professional, simple gifting.

You want to select a gift that says something both about the client and you as a designer. But beware the impulse to educate the client. I’ve seen designers give clients books on design, which may imply that the client doesn’t know what he or she is talking about.

In the end, almost any card or gift will be warmly received as an expression of thanks for work provided throughout the year, and hopefully, your clients will be encouraged to consider you for future projects.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 6th, 2007 at 5:08 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.