The Art of Client Gifting: When Generosity Crosses the Line

The Art of Client Gifting: When Generosity Crosses the Line

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What’s the right way to thank your clients? It might seem like a simple question, but the answer can be surprisingly complex. In episode 15 of the C-Suite Chicks podcast, hosts Ashlie and Whitney explore the art of gift-giving in business and the fine line between showing appreciation and sending the wrong message.

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This episode starts with a scenario that many professionals can relate to: Phil, a well-meaning salesperson, tries to thank a client with a gift, only to find himself in a tricky situation. His choice of gift—while generous—raises some eyebrows, especially since the recipient is of the opposite sex and both are married. Ashlie and Whitney use Phil’s story as a jumping-off point to discuss the importance of setting boundaries and selecting appropriate gifts in business.

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When it comes to gift-giving in a professional setting, matching the gift to the relationship is key. The hosts explore various options, from small tokens of appreciation like gift cards to more significant gestures such as travel experiences. Whitney, in particular, is a fan of giving experiences, which she believes helps create “core memories” for the recipient. But the duo emphasizes that even thoughtful gifts like these must be chosen carefully, especially in newer or surface-level business relationships.

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One of the most intriguing parts of the episode is the discussion around gifting alcohol. While a bottle of champagne might seem like a classy, safe choice, Ashlie and Whitney point out the potential pitfalls—especially in an era when sobriety is becoming more common and celebrated. They dive into the legal and ethical considerations around gifting alcohol, referencing recent stories of how gifting booze to someone on a sobriety journey could have unintended, even harmful, consequences.

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But it’s not just alcohol that can be tricky. As the episode progresses, the conversation turns to how corporate gift-giving can be misinterpreted, especially when it involves opposite-sex clients. Ashlie warns that even well-meaning gestures can be misunderstood, not just by the recipient but by coworkers, bosses, or spouses. Whitney adds that in sales, corporate charisma is crucial—injecting humor and personality into interactions—but there’s a fine line between being friendly and being flirty.

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Throughout the episode, the hosts share personal anecdotes, legal insights, and thoughtful advice on how to show appreciation in business without overstepping boundaries. The key takeaway? Know your clients, understand your relationship with them, and always ensure that your gifts align with the professional dynamic you want to maintain.

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As always, Ashlie and Whitney wrap up by encouraging listeners to share their own experiences. What are some of the best—or worst—gifts you’ve given or received in business? If you’ve ever found yourself in a Phil-like situation, drop them a line and join the conversation.

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Episode 15 is a must-listen for anyone navigating the tricky waters of client appreciation. Whether you’re a seasoned sales pro or just getting started, Ashlie and Whitney’s advice will help you build relationships without the risk of misinterpretation.

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Ashlie Marshall (00:00):

Make sure you're bouncing between those appropriate boundaries, especially if it's someone from the opposite sex because it can be misinterpreted so easily and it can be viewed as something that it's not very quickly. Hey y'all. Hello C-suite chicks here. How's it going? How's it going? How are you today, Whitney?

Whitney Ramirez (00:32):

Good and stressed. I'm busy, but I was just saying yesterday, it's like it is crazy busy, but there's on a day that I'm not grateful for it.

Ashlie Marshall (00:45):

Yeah, yeah. The crazy busy is always I feel more productive. Maybe it's just doing more shit. Yeah, we're going to be real about it, but I feel more productive. I feel like I'm more conscious of my time when I have more shit to do. As y'all can hear, I'm all stuffy. Please excuse me, I caught my son's start of school crud, and I think I'm on the tail end of it, which is good. So sound terrible, feel better, that kind of thing. Yeah.

Whitney Ramirez (01:24):

Yeah.

Ashlie Marshall (01:25):

School will do that. Today we have an interesting topic to chitchat about. I was having a conversation with a friend of mine and she was telling me a story about a couple people in her circle, and it sparked an idea. Let's tell the

Whitney Ramirez (01:43):

Story first. So let's get names.

Ashlie Marshall (01:49):

So there's an individual who's in the sales realm, and this individual in the sales realm does more personal type sales. Not,

Whitney Ramirez (02:00):

We'll

Ashlie Marshall (02:00):

Call him Phil. Okay, Phil. All right. So Phil here got a good client and they have not only brought him business, but they've also brought him a couple of other people who have brought him business. And the conversation is now shifting to what's an appropriate gift giving for that said

Whitney Ramirez (02:26):

Client. But why is that the question? That's the question Phil married

Ashlie Marshall (02:33):

Phil had a few questionable gift ideas to a lady client, to a lady client, although none of the situation mounted to anything and it seems very innocent from hearing third party, and this is third party, I don't even really know these people, but the storyline is there was an offer to bring said new clients to work a few times and paying for the service that she signed up for the first month as a thank you and a couple of other things. But the topic for today would be okay, let's dig into that a little bit more.

Whitney Ramirez (03:28):

What should Phil have gifted?

Ashlie Marshall (03:30):

What are appropriate gifting options for Phil to choose from, given that he might not have all of the authority to give things like discounts or a free month? The authority there is not as flexible. More

Whitney Ramirez (03:46):

Material

Ashlie Marshall (03:47):

Things or experiences. Correct. Right. Something that would be helpful to this person who this client who now is a client but may not be able to financially maintain or support when she signed. So the desire to help this person because helping this person would then intern help you. I get that, but let's talk through some options. What would've been a better option? What's something at the top of your head, Whitney, that you would be like, well, this would've been a better choice to

Whitney Ramirez (04:23):

Make? Well, especially it being this is a brand new relationship. It's not even deep. It's very surface level. And so it's like you should match the gift to the relationship where it's like maybe it's like you think of it as commission for whatever amount of revenue she brought you. Let's say you want to gift her something worth 5%. Maybe it's like you gift her a three day stay somewhere, or I don't even know a gift card to a travel place or a gift card to Southwest. That's a nice gift. Or a gift card to

Ashlie Marshall (05:12):

A local

Whitney Ramirez (05:12):

Grocer or

Ashlie Marshall (05:14):

Maybe a local restaurant or coffee shop

Whitney Ramirez (05:17):

Or a very nice

Ashlie Marshall (05:18):

Restaurant. A very

Whitney Ramirez (05:19):

Nice restaurant, like a 500

Ashlie Marshall (05:20):

Gift card.

(05:21):

Take a person of her, she wants choosing. So without it being like, oh, this was inappropriate because he's married and maybe she is or she isn't, which I believe in this situation, she is married and has a family, and in fact they may or may not have been friends prior to the business situation. And so in that instance, if you have a friend who has now said, oh, hey, I want to sign up with whatever this is that you're selling. Maybe it's Avon makeup or something along those lines, and I want to buy from you now. I want you to be my person that I go to for that, and then they bring 10 more people to you and it's brought you a very good income for the last month to six months, what would be an appropriate thank you to somebody who you may have already had a friendship with? Where do we go with that?

Whitney Ramirez (06:20):

That's a good one too. That makes it even better when you know the person because you're going to know what they like.

Ashlie Marshall (06:27):

True. If it was you, if who bought something from me, right? Yeah. I would get you a gift card to a local spa that does specific types of facial things that I know you're very into or I would give you something for your adorable little boy, something along those lines, because I know you.

Whitney Ramirez (06:47):

Yeah. It's like I know where you shop. I know the kind of food that you eat. I know the kind of drinks that you like. I know what kind of books that you might like to read or experiences that you'd like to have. I know you like nice hotels and I know you nice restaurants that have food that you can actually eat. I would go that route. I really like gifting experiences. I think that you're literally helping someone create a core memory, but

Ashlie Marshall (07:21):

Well, not only that, not everyone spends money on experiences for themselves. Don't. That's a great gift. I think that's a great idea. I'm sure there are great places down there that gift cards would be to an experience would be a great gifting idea. But you mentioned something in there that I want to touch on. So we talked about appropriate gift giving to new clients and appropriate gift giving to maybe a client that was a friend previously. But you mentioned what people like to drink. So let's venture into those murky waters a little bit. I come from my dad being in client relationship management for majority of his life and the construction realm. And he has received and gifted bottles of alcohol to said vendors. Now they're not to an individual person to a company. And then the company chooses how they distribute that. Typically it's to the contact of his that he's communicating with some sort of executive in that other company. But where are your comfort levels in terms of giving alcohol to clients, current clients or new clients?

Whitney Ramirez (08:39):

I actually have never really thought of it in Oklahoma, and gifting alcohol to friends is very normal. And then some clients you do see as friends. And so before we even started talking about this, I wouldn't have considered it very abnormal to gift alcohol, but over the recent, maybe just year, I have seen people on TikTok that are very much in their sobriety journey. I follow this girl named Jacqueline Hill who I grew up watching, do makeup, and then she had a very bad addiction. Alcohol is in her sobriety journey, and if someone had gifted her that she would actually be offended because she is so strict on herself to not drink alcohol. And so that's the only, but then again, if you know that person, you're going to know whether they drink or not. But then it's like I've also considered a bottle of nice champagne, a good surface level gift. But then I hear Jacqueline and I'm like, oh crap, maybe I wouldn't gift a bottle of champagne to a surface level friend. So yeah, it's like I see both sides of it, but I wouldn't have thought it was abnormal before.

Ashlie Marshall (09:58):

I think in my opinion, when it comes to that, if you're gifting alcohol to somebody or a client, even a client, you already know that client. I would hope that if you're gifting something like that to somebody, that you already know them, you have a relationship with them where their boundaries lie. For instance, if Jacqueline Hill was your client, you clearly would know that you are not going to give her alcohol. But there's a long list of clients that we have at the agency that we absolutely know that we could gift them three bottles of champagne for their team and they would probably pop it open in the office.

(10:37):

That would be a thing. And you mentioned Oklahoma. Y'all know I'm down in Texas, but it's very similar. It a little birdie mentioned to us right before we started recording that the concern of legal ramifications. So I am not a lawyer or an attorney, nor do I know any of the laws, but if I were to gift somebody a bottle of alcohol, wine, champagne, liquor, whatever it is, and they consume, said alcohol on their own after they have left where I am, where I have gifted, they are home drinking their own thing, and then they get in their car and they crash. I'm not responsible for that because I gifted them that it's now theirs. They need to take responsibility for their own actions and how they chose to do that in my thought process, they wouldn't be able to come after me legally for that. Again, I'm not a lawyer, but if we have any lawyers listening, please, please drop us notes about that.

Whitney Ramirez (11:36):

I think of what our lawyer would say, and I'm like, okay, well, she would say, right, well, one, we do have business insurance that covers risk and liabilities and whatevers, but we also have employee policies to where it's like we're not responsible for, we're not going to face any illegal action for anything for our team. And then in terms of our clients, because I swear there's some story about the consumer responsibility, like consumer responsibly, that's in commercials, that's in, it's listed on alcohol, alcohol bottles, it's printed on the

Ashlie Marshall (12:20):

Bottle,

Whitney Ramirez (12:21):

Consumer responsibly. That is to diffuse some liability on some level.

Ashlie Marshall (12:28):

And

Whitney Ramirez (12:28):

So it's like we could also diffuse liability from a client vendor standpoint by saying, please do not consume during the event, wait to consume until you get home. Home. So I think that diffuses risk and then you're an adult. What the laws are, there are laws not string a drive, and then there also public intoxication and whatnot. So it's like I kind of just see both sides of it. So it's an interesting conversation. It is

Ashlie Marshall (13:13):

An interesting conversation.

Whitney Ramirez (13:15):

Yeah. I think it is different though. At Forest Ridge, for example, if you work at a bar, there are liquor cabinets and it's just a ton of liquor. If you are a vendor client relationship and it's strong and you're gifting this man a bottle of whiskey every day and he's drinking in front of you, that's way different.

Ashlie Marshall (13:42):

Yeah,

Whitney Ramirez (13:43):

Because there, I'm

Ashlie Marshall (13:44):

Sure there's

Whitney Ramirez (13:44):

Lots of legal vacations

Ashlie Marshall (13:46):

For

Whitney Ramirez (13:46):

Relapse. Oh yeah, I know. So I feel like it's, I guess all or nothing because that's a very extreme case, but I agree that that should not be legal.

Ashlie Marshall (14:00):

Well, what shouldn't be legal? That they would come after you or that you can gift alcohol

Whitney Ramirez (14:07):

That they could, I don't know. Both honestly, you should not be able to enable someone into addiction. That is an addiction at that point. If you're drinking a, you're gift

Ashlie Marshall (14:20):

It to 'em every day, then yeah, you're definitely an enabling addiction. But if it's a Christmas gift with a big red boat restaurant or something, we have a couple of really big clients and when they have big wins, we usually send a bouquet or we send a gift card. I mean, in the past we've done a lot of things like that, which I'll get to in a minute. But we

Whitney Ramirez (14:44):

Have bought shots before and too,

Ashlie Marshall (14:47):

That's the thing, we have bought shots in person before and I feel like

Whitney Ramirez (14:51):

We were at a bar's drinking, drinking responsibly though,

Ashlie Marshall (14:54):

Drinking responsibly. We'll get to that in a minute. But we have definitely done kind things in celebration for our clients. We have not sent a bottle of champagne, but we have done a lot of other things, which kind of leads me into that part of the conversation. Things that we have done in the past when we have clients who have a baby or have surgery or are battling a disease like cancer or have just come out of the hospital, we have sent DoorDash gift cards, we have sent bouquets of flowers, we have sent gift cards to their team. We have done things like that. And when we go see 90% of our clients once a year at their convention, we will create an event or do we see them in the bar? We will buy drinks for them if we're physically in their presence. In the past, we've done a client appreciation event where it was literally at a bar throwing axes of all things, and it was a blast and everybody had fun and everybody consumed responsibly except for maybe one person, which was fine because we had control of the one

Whitney Ramirez (16:07):

Person. We covered Uber back and forth from the event. So it's like I feel like we did everything right there where we had, I mean obviously we had experienced bartenders who would cut people off if they needed to. We had rides to and from. It was also, we had had lots of food, charcuterie, s'mores, pizza.

Ashlie Marshall (16:32):

It

Whitney Ramirez (16:32):

Was great. And there was also waivers signed for everyone for the axe throwing so

Ashlie Marshall (16:39):

That the place required the waiver, which was helpful. And they did give us access to those waivers, but we did, we made sure to provide transportation so that nobody had to drive because it wasn't close to where everybody was staying.

Whitney Ramirez (16:54):

It's like 30

Ashlie Marshall (16:55):

Minutes. And that didn't even cost that much. That was completely a piece of it that was totally worth it, and it helped with the liability aspect of it. But those are some things that we've gifted. We have not gifted, I would say brand new clients when they sign on the dotted line, but we do offer really deep discounts for clients that sign length inch contracts. Maybe they sign six month or 12 month, or they bring on a good amount of businesses for us to work on. And we also have a referral program. So in that instance where in the people we were talking about at the beginning where she brought him more clients, create a referral system for that. If you bring me three clients, then whatever is within your parameters of authority, can you offer her a discount on the policy? Maybe you can't, but you can send her a gift card to a really nice restaurant of her choosing that would pay for her and her husband or spouse or whatever to go eat at a nice restaurant. But create those appropriate parameters for yourself with what you're afforded to give. And maybe that's a good time for you to go talk to your higher ups and find out what can you give, what are you authorized to sign off on?

Whitney Ramirez (18:17):

Yeah, there could be such a range here too. I mean, if we're talking about bringing in $10,000 or less, maybe it is something really small, like a nice gift card or something, but it's like, what if it's a million dollar deal? Or what if it's two or 10 or then what are appropriate gifts there? Because a much different scale of revenue than a small amount.

Ashlie Marshall (18:46):

I mean, that's

Whitney Ramirez (18:46):

Very different. And then it's different. And trips and

Ashlie Marshall (18:50):

Trips, cars. Yeah. I mean, yeah, those man, I'd love to do those kind of deals. Get on that list. I know we're not far. We're not far. We're getting there. Just checking away. Okay. So appropriate gifting to clients. We kind of talked about the alcohol, we talked about gifting experiences in the form of maybe gift cards for planes or hotels or trips, things like that. All of which I think are appropriate. But I think the biggest takeaway in this conversation is what's the relationship that you have with the client that you're gifting to if it's a once a year Christmas gift? I feel like the blanket gift we've done in the past, I think we've given coffee mugs or some

Whitney Ramirez (19:45):

Other tubers mugs, books. Just easy nice things to have.

Ashlie Marshall (19:52):

But if you're wanting to show appreciation to a client for a specific reason or for a specific event, I think it's incredibly crucial for you to gauge the relationship you have with that client and maybe the relationship that you want to make sure is solidified. Right. Is it a professional relationship? Is it a professional slash friendly relationship? Make sure you're bouncing between those appropriate boundaries, especially if it's someone from the opposite sex, because it can be misinterpreted so easily and it can be viewed as something that it's not very quickly, especially by maybe your significant other or maybe even by your higher ups or your boss or even your coworkers. Why are you doing all those things for her? Well, so what? She signed the policy. That's not a big deal. That's not a reason for you to go and do those things. So making sure that you understand the parameters of which you want that relationship to be and maintaining that through your gift giving,

Whitney Ramirez (21:05):

Set boundaries early on. And then you don't have to leave room for any confusion.

Ashlie Marshall (21:11):

Yeah,

Whitney Ramirez (21:12):

Because Phil's wife was not happy.

Ashlie Marshall (21:16):

Wife was not happy at all. No, but any responsible couple, they did talk through it and it's fine. And I'm sure there'll be plenty more conversations where that came from. But when you're getting into a sales role and you're getting your feet wet and you're just trying to get clients in the door, I get it. I totally get it. But you also don't want to build a reputation that is not something that you want to maintain. So like Whitney said, create those boundaries. Early on

Whitney Ramirez (21:52):

I saw a TikTok and it was like, oh, you work in sales. How silly for you to just flirt all day? I'm like, that is true for some people. I think

Ashlie Marshall (22:04):

That's why I don't like it.

Whitney Ramirez (22:08):

I don't know.

Ashlie Marshall (22:10):

Do you feel like you have to flirt through sales? Sometimes?

Whitney Ramirez (22:13):

I feel like there's such a thing as corporate charisma where it's like it's not flirting, but I don't know. Is it friendly in a different realm, really bringing personality into a boring conversation? Honestly, that's kind of how I see it. I don't, wouldn't say that I flirt. I think I try to inject humor and be witty during a meeting, but not out of flirtation. It's more so I'm just trying to have a fun I easy conversation here because my job is in sales.

Ashlie Marshall (22:59):

So from my perspective, I have been on multiple of your sales calls and I've listened to countless recordings for training purposes for the team, but I have never, from my perspective, I have never seen you be flirtatious in a sales call.

Whitney Ramirez (23:18):

That's a lot.

Ashlie Marshall (23:19):

But I will agree with you on the interjecting humor, which sometimes because our agency is such a niche that sometimes our humor when it comes to this stuff is not always caught. It doesn't land in their hand the right way. But I laugh at it

Whitney Ramirez (23:39):

So funny, and I know all my calls are being recorded and I don't say anything that I would be embarrassed about. And so that's how I know I'm not flirting. I would be so embarrassed if someone saw me being cringe. So now you're saying

Ashlie Marshall (24:02):

That flirting is cringe.

Whitney Ramirez (24:06):

I would sound flirting. No, I would feel so cringe if the team watched a video of me flirting with

Ashlie Marshall (24:15):

Someone. Okay, I understand. I understand. Yeah, I would die. All right, y'all, do not flirt in your sales meetings and do not gift your new clients a free month. Well, not free month, but pay for out of pocket their first month of service because that my friend is not appropriate and it sets you up for failure. Unfortunately, it will set you up for deep failure. So don't do that. Don't do that. Set your boundaries. Pick your parameters, operate within those. Expand them when needed, shrink them. If so, and just make smart decisions.

Whitney Ramirez (24:57):

Use that frontal lobe. Please.

Ashlie Marshall (25:09):

If you are in sales and you're listening to this and you have some gifts that you've given that are not any of the things we listed, drop 'em in our little review there and let us know how you gift your clients or your new closed deals. What do you do for them to show appreciation? I'm really

Whitney Ramirez (25:29):

Curious. Yeah, I like hearing ideas too.

Ashlie Marshall (25:32):

I know we always love to hear new other people's expectations and thought processes. I mean, it definitely helps to expand

Whitney Ramirez (25:41):

Everyone's different.

Ashlie Marshall (25:43):

Yeah, expand your mind. Well, as always, we hope you enjoyed our conversation today, and thanks for listening. You did. Please leave us a review and share us with your friends, and we hope y'all have a great week. Bye bye.

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