6 Creative Holiday Gifts For Your Customers

December first is already here and its time to start thinking about holiday gifts to customers and prospects. Here are a couple ideas that are actually creative and keep you top of mind.

1. Doughbies cookies! These things are great and if you happen to live in San Francisco this is a very easy thing to send. https://www.doughbies.com/
2. Your favorite book. You can try sending it hard copy or even just send them a link for a Kindle book. This is easy and it keeps you top of mind.
3. A hot cup of coffee! I had to put in this self promotion here. Send them a coffee using CoffeeSender. Its super easy and fast to do!
4. Fancy Hands. Get them an assistant for a day to get them caught up before the holidays. https://www.fancyhands.com/
5. This one is out there but gift a Fitbit. Here is why this is cool you can also become friends with them on Fitbit and start to build a relationship.
6. Send them lunch using seamless or ubereats.
7. A handwritten post card or note. LetterFriend does a good job with this.
8. The last creative idea I have is a big head, this is just fun.

Have fun with it! Gifting should always be fun and creative.

Customer Loyalty and gifting

Something to read that is unrelated to politics 🙂

Loyalty plays a significant role in the business world. If you’re an entrepreneur, customer loyalty will sustain your business. Needless to say, making sure that you let your customer know they are valued is an excellent business practice. You can do this by launching customer incentive programs. Small gestures for clients can make customers – potential and current – feel special with the right motivation. Customers don’t really need a grand gesture to feel appreciated and valued. A simple token of appreciation goes a long way.

This is a bit of self promotion but one effective incentive program you can do is send coffee. Everybody loves a good cup of Joe. And coffee is one of those things that can easily perk up someone’s day. Sending one to a customer is a win-win situation. You get to make your customer feel valued while boosting your business. And in return, they get all warm and fuzzy while remembering how good it is to do business with you.

Here are a couple other great gifts you can send to customers to make them feel appreciated.

• A swag welcome bag- A bag with a couple swag items ( people love free t-shirts and water bottles)
• Lunch- It’s always great to pair this with a lunch and learn.
• Local favorites- for example you are in San Francisco send ghirardelli chocolate or philz coffee
• Cookies ( I mean everyone loves cookies)
• A simple post card of your team in holiday sweaters.

So at the end of the day make sure to thank those clients with a little gift.

CoffeeSender is now a FREE platform

We have had a ton of exciting changes on the CoffeeSender platform over the past two weeks, including a new integration with Zendesk and Slack that we are pumped about. But the largest change is no longer do we charge a fee to use the platform.http://i.giphy.com/1S6xghiGMc6Hu.gif

The only cost now will be the $5 dollar Starbucks coffees and that’s it. So you can send 100 today and 2 next month, 50 the month after that and five next year, up to you.

The goal with this change is to make it easier for entire organizations to sign up so everyone can leverage the platform to connect with customers, partners and peers.

You can get started right on the homepage here is a link.

Lastly if you are thinking to yourself why would I ever send coffee to someone. Check out this blog post to get the creative juices flowing.

Happy Sending!

There are 127,391 reasons to send coffee

Here are the first 16.

CoffeeSender can be used for a variety of situations. We have seen it used in some very creative and cool ways. We thought to get the creative juices flowing on this Friday, we would list a couple ways we have seen CoffeeSender used by our customers and internally. If you have other ideas or use cases, let us know! If you have not signed up yet, here is a 14 day free trial- https://coffeesender.com/ we know you will love it. Happy sending!

Sales Ideas of When to Use CoffeeSender: 

• “Let me buy you your first cup of coffee tomorrow and give me a ring so I can show you my product or demo.”
• “Looking for an afternoon pick me up? Here is a coffee on me. If you want to pick up your business, give me a ring and I can show what we are doing over here.”
• “Here is the proposal and a coffee attached so you can enjoy while reading.”
• “I haven’t heard from you, so I wanted to send over a coffee to get you going. Looking forward to next steps.”

Account Management when to use CoffeeSender: 

• The Sales hand off.
• The customer check-In, once a month or quarter.
• The angry customer, to say sorry and we value you as a customer.

Human Resources:

• Employees Birthdays, send them an automated email with a coffee.
• Before Your Employee Reviews.
• Before an All Hands, buy everyone a coffee on their way in.
• To Congratulate an Employee on something killer.

Recruiters: 

• The cold outreach on LinkedIn
• Before a phone screens or first call
• When you send over the offer letter.

Internally: 

• On an Employee’s First Day, give them an account and a couple credits to invite coworkers for coffee.
• The Internal Congrats to the Coworker

If you have other ideas please let us know. Thank you for reading and Happy Sending!!!

 

Be more Human

I learned about a study the other day on NPR, that determined if people hold something warm in their hands they were more likely to perceive someone else as emotionally “warm”, and they were likely to behave in a friendly generous way themselves. Being on a ton of demos every week this is music to my ears. From my experience talking to someone on the phone who is more receptive/friendly makes the demo go much smoother, and you are more likely to determine next steps or close the deal.

Here is the bad news. The Harvard review found that over the past two years, 46% percent of companies reported a shift from a field sales model to an inside sales model. More than twice as many study participants reported moving to an inside sales model. So you lose the ability to buy that prospect that warm cup of coffee, until CoffeeSender 🙂

When you are on the phone with prospect and not in person it is very easy for that person to see you as a machine and not as a human. Which makes sense we all get 100’s of calls and emails from robots every day. But being able to stand out from the noise and send them something ( coffee, an article, company swag) might make that person see you as a human and be more receptive to your message.

That fact is people love to build relationships and if you are in sales you need to be able to build that relationship quickly. So next time you have a phone demo try sending them a coffee from one of our integrations and see if it helps.

Try CoffeeSender for free 

Starbucks API

Are you looking for an API to send Starbucks^® eGift Cards? If so we can help. CoffeeSender allows you to send Starbucks^® eGift Cards via API one at a time or in bulk. You can create customized templates, track recipients, and more.

API Documentation: http://docs.coffeesender.apiary.io

Partner Signup: https://coffeesender.com/partners/sign_up

 

New Ways For Recruiters To Use LinkedIn

Welcome to 2016 where LinkedIn has become the core of recruiting. As the job market changes, so has LinkedIn, with new features able to streamline your process of finding the right match for your team. Beyond utilizing the LinkedIn “Recruiter” account type, here are a few LinkedIn features useful for recruiters:

1. Joining specific Group Pages

These pages attract a variety of the most influential people in a space, as well as the passionate and motivated potential candidates you are likely looking for. These groups offer the opportunity for discussion and learning within a contained space. Those who join specific talent or skill oriented groups often are the motivated types looking to learn or enrich discussions with their perspectives and would bring these traits to your company.

2. Utilizing the Jobs Network while equipping the “Work With Us” feature

Posting in the LinkedIn Job Board provides an opportunity to advertise your company’s job openings to any and all potential candidates who use LinkedIn as they explore pages relevant to their interests and expertise. LinkedIn’s job analytics provides a useful tool for assessing who is viewing your company’s postings and from where. Additionally, the “Work With Us” LinkedIn Ad service will allow your company to place this option on the sidebar of any individual or employee associated with your company, making it easy for perusing individuals to simply reach out to you. This allows for visibility, consistency, and brand recognition of your company (even for a candidate not seriously searching for a new position). 

3. “Humanizing” interactions within your network

Directly connecting with those in your network, for example, by remembering birthdays and sending congratulatory wishes to candidates at significant checkpoints, allows you to keep in contact over long periods of time. With features integrated into LinkedIn, like the CoffeeSender App, it is easy to send a coffee to a potential hire or a valued employee, as a token of gratitude or as a way to stay in touch.

Top Tech Trends in Real Estate

Though Realty has been an industry typically characterized by its emphasis on human interactions, the integration of technology into the sector has been a prominent trend in recent years. With the explosion of technological innovation comes increased variety of the sectors benefiting from these new tools. Continued development of diversified products meant to streamline interactions between clients and businesses is facilitating the incorporation of creative tools into the daily operations of businesses in new sectors. Real Estate’s existence in a highly social space allows for these innovations to more easily establish and enhance these relationships. Within the plethora of new technology entering the Real Estate sector, here is a list of a few of the hottest technological innovations transforming the Real Estate industry.

1. Drones. You might have heard of aerial drones being used by the military. Well, now drones are being used for aerial photography purposes and everyone in the real estate business is benefitting from the ability to virtually and aerially explore the area surrounding properties on the market. Whether if it’s for rent or for sale, drones have become extremely useful in giving potential clients a better feel for a property’s atmosphere and surroundings, especially if they are on the hunt for a place while living in a different location. Displaying this footage on social media allows for a more comprehensive picture of a property’s social vibes and is accessible even in the busiest of hours. According to customer data, having a combination of property floor plans with video footage boosts responses by 61% and is becoming a better practice when appealing to clients. Platforms for sharing these exist, such as Lifeclips.com, who manufactures and sells action cameras that are attached to drones

2. Virtual Reality. The use of 3D virtual reality goggles has moved beyond just fun and games, becoming a tool for Realtors to give 3D virtual tours to clients and potential clients. Companies like “Revolution Realty” have integrated these virtual reality tools into the marketing of their listings, paving the way for the evolution of realty.

3. Social Media Content Marketing. With the need to command all possible digital communications channels and the constant pressure to nurture potential leads, the numerous content marketing tools available to Real Estate agents are key to building the trusted relationship clients want when searching for a home. Better content and more visibility online has led to favorable results for realtors when securing clients. Working in Real Estate in 2016 requires the use of a diversity of content marketing tools in order to appeal to the client base. The online calculator tool is valuable, especially home remodeling calculators and reverse mortgage calculators, providing useful insight for clients with no prior knowledge to inform cost expectations.

4. Virtual E-gifting. No matter how much technology enters the equation, one important aspect of the Real Estate sector will never change: the value of relationships. In order to find success as a realtor in the 21st century, it has become imperative to use all one can to establish and develop these relations. Use a product like CoffeeSender to send anyone a coffee online. With Coffee Sender, you have a platform at your fingertips to build relationships by sending a simple coffee to friends, past business contacts or even current clients. The easily integrated CoffeeSender makes it quick and easy to keep in touch.

Coffee: A Customer Incentive Program

Loyalty plays a significant role in the business world. If you’re an entrepreneur, customer loyalty will sustain your business. Needless to say, making sure that you let your customer know they are valued is an excellent business practice. You can do this by launching customer incentive programs. Coffee for Clients can make customers – potential and current – feel special with the right motivation. Customers don’t really need a grand gesture to feel appreciated and valued. A simple token of appreciation goes a long way. One effective incentive program you can do is send coffee. Everybody loves a good cup of Joe. And coffee is one of those things that can easily perk up someone’s day. Sending one to a customer is a win-win situation. You get to make your customer feel valued while boosting your business. And in return, he gets all warm and fuzzy while remembering how good it is to do business with you. Another great thing about sending coffee as an incentive is that you don’t really need to be physically present to send a cup. You can simply do this online. Sending a coffee gift card is possible, thanks to CoffeeSender. Send a latte, espresso, or any other special coffee blend to your potential customers, current clients, business associates, and employees. For clients, sending a cup is a good form of user engagement. For associates, the act will make them feel that their relationship with you is important. For employees, it’s a perfect employee reward system for their accomplishments.

Industry News – HR

This week’s industry blog summary is all about Human Resources. The HR-filled articles are content from Monster.com. The topics range from gender pay gap to workers’ biggest distractions at work. All provide tips and tricks on how to execute more reliable and stable Human Resource Management.

• This is What Company Pay Disclosure Might Mean for Your Job

Written by Mack Gelber, the content talks about how President Obama is trying his hardest to close the gender pay gap. Gelber points out why the Obama administration is pushing for transparent employee salaries as means to reduce gender pay discrepancy. The content also touches on the subject of how salary transparency is not the usual norm in the US.

• 7 Job-Search Hacks Everyone Should Know

Penned by Allison Smith under Job Search Advice, this article provides seven tips on how to save time and stress from job hunting. The post offers guidelines on how to make this easier to accomplish. Smith provides details on how these hacks make job hunting more time-effective.

• What to Do when Multiple Executives Leave Your Company

Published by Catherine Conlan, the article tackles how to break down the realities and what ifs after several executives leave the office. Conlan offers guidelines to check if it’s time to dust off your resume or wait for things to unfold. The content also provides tips on how to act sensibly and smartly during this confusing time.

• Workers Speak Out about What Keeps Them from Doing Their Jobs

Curated by Mack Gelber, this career management post shows a video of different employees talking about their biggest work distractions. It also briefly tackles the subject of how an average worker gets distracted at work once every three minutes! The video shows how work distractions vary from the most expected interruptions to the most bizarre.

• 2 Out of 3 Millennials Expect to Quit Their Jobs by 2020

Expounded by Mack Gelber, this article explains how young workers – particular females – are willing to walk out of a company in the name of upward career mobility. Gelber draws attention to the recent study made on how the two out of three Millennials are willing to quit their current jobs to seek a new one with more leadership opportunities.