Now that Halloween is over, the world has launched the holiday season. Every corner you turn you are faced with bows, trees, glitter, and song. The holiday season can be a logistical nightmare for a business owner: gifts, traveling, corporate and family events, gifts, evening engagements, gifts…

Your clients are likely hoping, and maybe some expecting, a thank you for their business.  Let’s just add this to your ever-growing list, shall we?

Lean on your assistant for this and leverage their ability to organize, collect addresses, compare costs and hopefully their creativity.

Below is an outline of what your assistant should be thinking about and helping you get in motion:

• Timing. Decide when clients should receive their gifts in order to work backwards. Are you recognizing them at Thanksgiving? That is a great way to send a message of thanks to your clients. Maybe you’d like to wait until December, or some companies choose to recognize their clients around the New Year. Whenever you want your gifts to be received, timing is the key to everything working out well.
• The Gift. You can choose this, or let your assistant chose, or work together to come up with the perfect gift. Think about your business and your audience. What is the essence or “feel” of your business? Who are your clients? Do they have anything in common? Do you want to send food or something perishable? Will you have something created with your logo, etc that will require lead time? Is there a brand message you would like to send? Will you send the same gift to everyone, or will you have different levels of gifts? The answers to these questions should coincide with the timing.
• Preparation. Your assistant should own this step, but may need your input if you have personal preferences about any of these points: Is there any assembly required before the gifts are sent? Are there items that are being ordered vs picked up at a store, or is it a combination? What other items will you need for gift wrapping, and overall presentation of the gift? If you are sending gift certificates, or some other gift that recipients will need to retrieve, how will receipt of the order be tracked?
• Delivery. Your assistant will track delivery via whatever service you decide to use and make sure that all have been received. Some hard-to-deliver to locations can be solved by using a courier or having your assistant hand deliver as needed. Let them give you updates once a week or so, as well as letting you know if any delivery trouble was encountered so you can send a personal note letting them know it’s on the way.

Your assistant can be hugely important with the planning, execution and follow-up of your holiday client gifts. With good communication, your assistant can take your ideas and run with the plan. You can be as closely connected to the process as you wish, depending on what you decide to do.

Whatever you do, may your upcoming holiday client (and all) gift giving be a well-organized and stress-free process. It is possible – and that’s a gift for YOU.