A Major Corporate Blunder

Image courtesy of www.crystalgraphics.com

As it's always said in business, if you don’t have customers, you don’t have a business.

We always hear that customers are the most important part of an organization. Anyone who is in business will always want to keep clients or customers coming in and reward them for their loyalty. Perks given for their patronage and loyalty definitely work wonders. It can be in the form of promotions, freebies, discounts, or can also be something personal like a gift for a client’s birthday or anniversary or promotion, and more. Personalized experiences are known to ignite feelings in customers.

A good public relations aka PR executed sincerely can win you many brownie points. If you are into beauty/service business, it could be something as simple as one free service after every five or a little more advanced such as a “point” system that wins them reward points every time they use your services which can be redeemed anytime.

You can also hold a VIP event in which you invite your top-spending or most loyal clientele and invite them to explore services for free. Pampering them won't hurt as they can help spread the word around, especially if a particular client is into PR himself.

Others go the extra mile and want to create an impact on their " big " clientle by giving them expensive gifts - as in the case of this known beauty Business Owner BO.

BO who has been in the beauty industry for years has gained quite a respectable following especially from showbiz people. BO has the names of popular stars and industry movers who regularly avail of his services whether as sponsored or paying clients. As is the practice, the perks BO gives to his clients depend on their status and how important they are to his business.

Owing to the image of his business, most of the clients of BO belong to the upper strata of society. As such every gift should be well-thought of knowing his exclusive/well-heeled market. Needless to say, a gift should always be appropriate to the receiver.

An Influential Man IM who is like every showbiz person's go-to-person for their concerns on anything and everything in the industry is one of BO's top clients. BO knows for sure how indispensable IM is, knowing his hold in the industry.

One day, BO showed his appreciation to his clients and gave them something to show for it. Thinking that he would impress them big time, BO gifted them with LV bags each. His clients were obviously glad to have received the branded bags. But lo and behold, the joy was just a quickie. How insulted were they when they found out that the LV bags were fake!

But that's not the end of story, the well-heeled IM upon finding out that he was given a counterfeit bag taught BO a lesson he won't forget. IM had the fake LV bag returned to BO asap!

Moral of the story: " It's not the cost but the thought that counts " is so passe. With PR gifts, it is the other way around - the cost should and must always count.

" Showing off is the fool's idea of glory. " ~ Bruce Lee

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