No Time for Grinches

Mike Donoghue is a member of a multinational information technology corporation where he collaborates on the communications guidelines and customer relationship strategies affecting the interactions with internal and external clients. He has analyzed, defined, designed and overseen processes for various engagements including product usability and customer satisfaction, best practice enterprise standardization, relationship/branding structures, and distribution effectiveness and direction. He has also established corporate library solutions to provide frameworks for sales, marketing, training, and support divisions.

  CRM   Stakeholder Management  

Time to kick into holiday mode!

Actually, for most of us in IT, the holiday mode began some time ago in terms of planning, but reading an article about the subject in the summer is like seeing Santa Claus and Menorah decorations in stores before Halloween has even entered our minds. In addition to the stress of working more closely with client reps to make certain that quarterly/annual deliverables are met, there is also the added bonus of negotiating work schedules with project teams who (no doubt) have been told that they need to use up their vacation time by the end of the year or lose it. Can't you just smell the holiday cheer?

On top of all this, you also need to consider what kind of holiday gift and message you plan on sending. As important as it is to give gifts to family, friends and associates, nice corporate offerings help build relationships with your clients and provide a non-intrusive reminder of the business service you provide. Bear in mind also that what you give says a lot about who and what you represent.

There's a perceived value in giving gifts--it demonstrates that you care about a client and value their business. Incorporating your company's logo subtly into a gift can be particularly important but should not be overpowering, especially when giving items with the intent that they won't just become dust …

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