Such a shame really. The agent was lovely and did an exemplary job throughout the whole process. When I went to pick up the keys yesterday afternoon I was kind of hoping for a bottle of agency-branded premium cleanskin sparkling wine to say thanks and remind me that when it’s time to sell the house they’d be keen to help out. Instead I got a lukewarm handshake, a smile and shitty little black box with a shitty little keyring inside it. They’d have been better off giving me nothing.

Corporate gifts aren’t much different to any other kind of gift:

1. It’s the thought that counts
2. A gift from the heart which truly means something to both giver and the reciever is better than something really expensive
3. Failing point 1 and point 2; the bigger the better

Sure, I have a house now, and yes, I need somewhere to put my new house keys, but I declare my crappy keyring to be an unequivocal CORPORATE GIFT FAIL.

I know you can read, so I’m going to presume you buy books online from time to time. Where would you rather buy The Catcher in the Rye from?

Your Local Bookstore’s Website

or

Amazon

or

Google Products

Answer: Google Products.

Seriously.

Sit down for a second and look at how good Google’s product search tool is.

If you sell ANYTHING online you are competing with Google.

They have a bigger marketing budget than you. They’re not using their marketing budget yet. But they will.

Make sure you know what you’re doing.

Make sure you’re doing something remarkable.