alecabral

Director - Digital Sales Transformation

Do you actually take swag to customers, in person?

So I'm not talking direct mail here, or conventions. I mean when you go and visit them at their offices, or they come to yours.

This was pretty much the standard a few years ago, as in customers expected you to bring something for them with a company logo on it. I used to sell all over Latin America so I was used to travelling with mugs, shirts, jackets, caps and even loads of golf balls with the logos...man, I don't miss that, I think maybe it was cultural.

What do you guys think?

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41 comment

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Kirby

Politicker

Sales Representative

I'm a Covid sales baby. What do you mean by "visiting in your office"? What's an office?

looper1010

Celebrated Contributor

Solutions Specialist

Lol, cute! I guess you can send loom or vidyard vids instead of going door to door!

Kirby

Politicker

Sales Representative

I actually sent a TON of vidyards in my last role 😂

looper1010

Celebrated Contributor

Solutions Specialist

Not surprised given this covid era 😂

alecabral

Arsonist

Director - Digital Sales Transformation

😂😂😂😂

FlintIronstag

Notorious Answer

Chief Marketing Officer

Yes! But never traditional swag. If it can be thrown away then it's a waste of money.

1 - cater in food, like way too much, like, way way too much. so it lasts for days. Always gets a great response when the team you're trying to sell doesn't have to think about making lunch when they get home. if you can put food in their belly they'll remember you. i always double or triple order catering and I'm like, 'keep it or have your team take it home'. always increases utilization of our product.

2 - golf stuff: Titleist pro v1 with your company logo on it. i made the mistake of ordering hundreds of golf balls to give away and got the cheapest one i could find on Vistaprint. it worked initially but by day 2 of the 5 day conference people were coming in saying the sucked and word had gotten out. Nobody picked them up anymore, they loved the bag towels, club scrubber, green marker & divot tool all custom branded and metal.

3 - sendoso: i've kind of switched to this model. ill swag them a $5 gift card to starbucks or deliver something to everyone that's customized if they pay attention in the meeting or show up.

alecabral

Arsonist

Director - Digital Sales Transformation

love this build @FlintIronstag , I too think that the more you spend, the better result but I've always been conscious of budget. The more expensive the swag, the least amount of it we would get, so I'd tell my reps to really think how to use it.

love your golf ball story. I don't golf, but my brother does, and I got a bunch of what turned out to be really crapy balls at a conference and took them to him as a souvenir. He said thanks, went to play, then basically said "next time if you want to bring me something, call me first". He's a bit of an ass lol, but yeah, he did not like those balls. Pretty sure they were the cheap kind!

FlintIronstag

Notorious Answer

Chief Marketing Officer

I catered in over $500 of Panera lunch for a team of 20 people on my last trip. Generated $150k in sales because they simply thought of us when a lead came across their desks that we could service.

poweredbycaffeine

WR Lieutenant

☕️

In insurance it's almost tablestakes. If you show up to a meeting without swag to exchange with the other team then you may as well go home. In tech it's less customary, but definitely a nice touch. We have dropped swag for our favorite bartenders before, and we offer all of our visitors for meetings a raid-session of the swag closet.

alecabral

Arsonist

Director - Digital Sales Transformation

You're right, in tech is no longer a thing as it was before but it still makes some difference! I myself got some swag this week out of one of our IT vendors, and I can't say I didn' like it lol.

poweredbycaffeine

WR Lieutenant

☕️

No doubt, I love when I get GOOD swag. I have a small obsession with moleskin notebooks, so if I get one of those then you're alright with me.

alecabral

Arsonist

Director - Digital Sales Transformation

Ha, I do too! I always have a couple laying around to take notes. Nothing beats opening a new one, does it?

Kiona

Opinionated

Head of Business Development

Hell yes to notebooks, and if you get a fancy pen that can be stored inside it, then you've saved my ass from having to search for one all the time.

SabertoothSales

Valued Contributor

Southeast Regional Manager

We have a pretty awesome branded charging battery. That's my favorite thing to give away, because people are actually pretty excited to receive one.

alecabral

Arsonist

Director - Digital Sales Transformation

I know I would want one. On my travelling days I'd always have a couple with me!

salesnerd

WR Officer

Head of Growth

I might have some stress balls or stickers or something in my bag to keep folks engaged during meetings. I wouldn't bring anything bigger/fancier just due to some weird company rules.

alecabral

Arsonist

Director - Digital Sales Transformation

That's also true. Some companies limit it a lot. Best thing I've carried were LEGO bricks. We wouldn't brand those, but we branded the boxes they came in. Cool swag, big mistake to bring them into a meeting.

Blackwargreymon

Politicker

MDR

sendoso: i've kind of switched to this model. ill swag them a $5 gift card to starbucks or deliver something to everyone that's customized if they pay attention in the meeting or show up.

Clashingsoulsspell

Politicker

ISR

In insurance it's almost tablestakes. If you show up to a meeting without swag to exchange with the other team then you may as well go home.

sales7

Politicker

Commercial Product Enablement

I think this has died out to a large extent, I think people prefer if you show up with food anyway

alecabral

Arsonist

Director - Digital Sales Transformation

I'm good with receiving them with food lol. I happen to know a few customers that still look weird at you if you don't leave something behind!

sales7

Politicker

Commercial Product Enablement

I once brought cakes in, thinking we'd enjoy them all and bond over it, as soon as the meeting was over they took all the food away unopened just with them to their desks 😂

ragnarlothbrok

Politicker

Key account manager

this is what I do, doughnuts are always welcomed with my customers

alecabral

Arsonist

Director - Digital Sales Transformation

lol that's harsh man! I don't think I ever took food with me, but I do remember getting a side table into a conference room, crowded with food. A great spread really, and I expensed it. Customer comes in, eat some...then one of them just stands up, grabs a plate filled with different kinds of bread, takes out a plastic container out of his backpack and puts the bread in. We were in the middle of a demo of course and didn't dare stop, but all eyes were on him.

CuriousFox

WR Officer

🦊

I have before. Mainly small trinkets to make the gatekeeper feel important. They love pens and post it notes.

alecabral

Arsonist

Director - Digital Sales Transformation

Right, pens are big here too. I have this customer who proudly displays them. He puts them inside empty bottles and the bottles line up his desk.

funcoupons

WR Officer

👑

They do this a lot in recruitment (my old industry,) and overall I found it to be a total waste of time and money.

alecabral

Arsonist

Director - Digital Sales Transformation

Never worked that industry before, good to know if I get into it!

Craggus

Opinionated

Key Account Manager

We do for definite. A lot of our site contacts would be facilities managers etc who often never see sales people so they love a free mug or Bluetooth speaker. We have received an order of £25000.00 from one such guy who placed it with us solely because we always brought gifts! Often the perceived value of a gift is so much more that the cost itself.

alecabral

Arsonist

Director - Digital Sales Transformation

way to go man, good to know swag led to money!

CPfor3

Opinionated

Business Development Representative

Yes my former company used to do monthly gift boxes for our dedicated and consistent users. Nothing crazy but coffee kits, snacks, small office game sets, etc. and they seemed to enjoy them

alecabral

Arsonist

Director - Digital Sales Transformation

Agreed, and if they are good they are well received I think. I myself will keep anything that's good quality for instance, but give away everything that's not, or looks cheap.

Kiona

Opinionated

Head of Business Development

Swag is double-edged. I get really turned off from thinking about the impact of shipping and packaging to receive something that is cheap or not-valuable.

WheresMyPO

Opinionated

Biotech Sales Rep

I work in healthcare and unfortunately there are extremely strict anti bribery laws that prevent me from giving even a pen to any accounts.

HappyGilmore

Politicker

Account Executive

In my current industry, no.

However, we would do this all the time previously in the sports industry, as it was an easy way for us to meet clients at games and give them a small thank you.

Kiona

Opinionated

Head of Business Development

100% And I give my first gift to the gate keeper - s/he'll remember. They get overlooked in the gift department, and when they tell your stakeholders later that you hooked them up - it carries you farther in the room as being thoughtful

H.A

Tycoon

Customer Success

In my opinion, after the pandemic this will be history, nowadays we are giving the customer some store credits to get what they need, greener :)

alecabral

Arsonist

Director - Digital Sales Transformation

well, if you read the thread there's plenty of it going on still! I don't think that's going away, but I do like the approach of something greener and easier to handle, like sendoso!

MR.StretchISR

Politicker

ISR

I'm a Covid sales baby. What do you mean by "visiting in your office"? What's an office?

Mr.Floaty

Politicker

BDR

Cleared goal in June. Just pushing since there’s no cap. Grind grind grind.

Cyberjarre

Politicker

BDR

Way to go dude, congrats! I haven't hit mine yet, but I think I will in November if everything goes well!

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alecabral

Do you actually take swag to customers, in person?

41 comment

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