Promotional Gifts for Agents
by Chris Aves

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Along with Vestra Travel and British Country Tours, my wife and I also own a business that specializes in a technique known as dye sublimation, which simply means that they can print any image onto a variety of items such as mugs, plates, shirts, tiles etc. This business is called www.CrimsonGarden.com. Crimson Garden offers many thousands of famous art images that you can choose to have printed on a wide variety of gift and collectible items. There's a special page for travel agents at www.CrimsonGarden.com/ta.htm.

We've found many promotional items that have worked extremely well in building customer interest, loyalty and company growth for our travel business. For example, we give our customers a promotional gift just after they purchase their vacations, so that the future pleasure of the experience can be relished by the customers for years to come. We often give prospective customers such items as a Vestra Travel coffee mug, such as you see in the picture. For cruises, we use a cruise theme, so that our customers will be drinking out of their mugs for several weeks or months before they leave on their cruise. After the cruise, it serves as a constant reminder and advertisement for our agency.

No matter the message, no matter the design, it can be printed onto the promotional item of your choice. Other examples of items that we give away to our clients are ceramic tiles that have many different uses. Photos with this article show Vestra Travel Agency information on a four-inch tile. The tile can then placed into a cast iron trivet, or onto a very nice wooden keepsake box, or clients can just have the tile cork backed to use as a decorative coaster.

We also recommend using personalized luggage tags for your travel groups which are always appreciated by your clients. On one side, you have the agency details, and on the other is your client’s name and address. We also often give away T-shirts that have been personalized specifically for a group traveling together. Just recently, one of our family reunion customers received T-shirts for each member of the party on the front of which the T-shirt had their family crest, and on the back was a message proclaiming “ The McDonald Family Reunion – June 2007."

We always ask our clients to send us a picture taken from their vacation. After the cruise or tour, we send them a thank-you card as well as a personalized gift with a picture of their vacation experience. At British Country Tours, we give each client a large ceramic tile with one of the pictures that the tour guides took of them during their tour. An example of this type of gift is the ceramic tile shown here which also can be framed, if desired, in a wooden frame or with a cork backing. Our clients keep these tiles indefinitely, and they will be seen by many family members and friends. We see this attention to detail as a major factor in our success.

Offering free giveaways to both prospective and customers alike is a powerful business building strategy that does result in new and loyal repeat customers. At your office, you can always have those giveaway coffee mugs available for your new prospects who either come in or speak to youover the phone. And, for the about town traveling agent, you can sport your business on your car using customized front license plates advertising your agency.

Because the promotional gift was given to your prospective or good customers as a free gift, they tend to feel some degree of psychological pressure to return the favor by continuing to purchase from you. Officially, this is known as the “Law of Reciprocity,” which simply means that people naturally feel an obligation to return favors, as a way of expressing their thanks.

So, use these relatively inexpensive promotional giveaways to build loyalty awareness and constant reminder while growing your “business brand!"

Chris Aves serves as the director of the OSSN North Carolina Chapter. To contact Chris or his wife Helena with questions, call 919.424.0625 or send an email to sales@crimsongarden.com.