IT has been said that it is far easier to keep an old customer than to get a new one. One way companies and organisations do this is through what is called relationship marketing, which has to do with meeting certain needs of customers beyond the service/product the company offers.

Companies, for example, would send out birthday wishes on the event of a customer’s birthday. Relationship marketing could also involve giving out gifts from time to time to customers, especially during festive periods. Giving out corporate gifts, therefore, makes for good business because such gifts would serve as an item that would endear the recipient customer to the company or organisation. Corporate gifts like pens and T-shirts are also a good form of advertising for any business.

Therefore, there exists in such companies, the need to supply these corporate gift items. The common ones obtainable range from diaries, pens and umbrellas to not so common ones like cufflinks, tie clips, and mouse pads.

Chief Executive Officer of Bolly Nonye Enterprises, Mr Arthur Oguguah, has been in the corporate gifts business for many years and has gathered much expertise and experience in this field of business. He said that the business has become very competitive, yet the returns remain great and this keeps one going despite the challenges. Mr Oguguah shared what it takes to get into the business he operates in Lagos and become successful at it.

He explained that anyone who has an item to sell to an organisation or company must be able to do something important, and that is to highlight the benefit of that particular gift to the company. The gift item should be one that projects the company’s brand and what it stands for, optimally. The gift item must speak the company’s values and should last long enough.

A corporate gifts supplier, who is able to do this convincingly, stands a good chance of getting approval, he said “When a client invites you, choose the best gift possible based on their budget. Know the availability of the gifts around locally. Certain gifts are imported because they are not available here. You may have a good gift item, but the ability to market it is very important.”

It will be necessary to come along, when prospecting for a client, with a sample of what one has on offer. “This sample will cost money to produce. You must be ready to bear the cost because some companies will pay for the sample you bring while others  will not. Next, you have need of someone who will do the printing apart from the purchase of the gift item you have on offer. Many types of printing exist namely screen printing, digital printing, heat transfer, moulding and so on. It all depends on what you want to print on, and the quality desired.

“It is noteworthy that an eye for quality is vital because what the printer gives you at first may be generally acceptable, but going the extra mile to press for higher quality will ensure that you retain the supply contract because no one else is offering anything better.

“The client should also receive a complete list of possible grades and the respective costs. Integrity is the watchword of the business: always deliver the exact quality you promise,” he explained.

The corporate gift supply business often receives higher budget by the company because such gifts are more often than not targeted at high networth customers.

There is huge profit to be made from corporate gifts supplies due to this fact. It was learnt that an item like a diary may cost about N2,500 to produce but can be supplied at the rate of N6,000 per copy.

Mr Jatto Muhammed runs an outfit called Major Arts & Signs. He gave insight into the cost of producing  common gift items a beginner in this business could start with. He said the cost price of a good quality polo T-shirt  is N700, and a medium sized umbrella could be as low as N350. He said that printing on 500 pieces of either the T-shirt or umbrella would be done at N100 each. This brings total costs to  N800 for the T-shirt and N450 for the umbrella.

It is, therefore, left for the supplier to choose an appropriate price to quote for such items based on an understanding of the company’s budget as mentioned earlier and how much profit  one wants to make.

Understanding the corporate gifts business opens one to excel in other similar service areas such as wedding and birthday souvenirs. It has been noted that yearly, such souvenirs keep getting bigger and better as any celebrant would love to make a statement with the kind of souvenir they give out at their wedding ceremonies. Bidding for a supply contract in this arena will be less tedious as it would be devoid of paper work when dealing with a corporate organisation. However, one’s integrity in delivering as promised remains important in this aspect also.

The challenges of this business lies with the starting out stage. Olumuyiwa Adelaja, an Electrical Engineering graduate, and Oluwaseun Adelaja, who studied Accounting, are two brothers who run Adelaj Concepts. They said that when they started out, creating awareness and capital were  serious hurdles for them. They said they found it difficult to convince people that they could deliver as promised, just because they were new in the business. Olumuyiwa said that it was through perseverance and determination that they were able to break through this challenge. “We promised God that we would do our best and never engage in anything shady along the way,” he said.  Adelaj Concepts has several clients presently. The finance issue for them was taken care of at the initial stage through a loan from their mother, and the returns from jobs were ploughed back into the business for subsequent funding.

The Adelaja brothers hinted that keeping up with technology is necessary to ensure that  one delivers the best quality of products obtainable. “If we do a T-shirt, we use something called flock printing instead of the commonly used screen printing which fades after a few washes.”

An important skill for the budding entrepreneur in this business is the determination to stop at nothing but success. As  Mr. Oguguah said, “You will do a lot of leg work and running around, but at the end of the day, it pays.”

Knowledge of how to write brilliant proposals and quotations will prove indispensable as a suplier of corporate gift items.