[highlight_box title=”Biography” text=”John Ruhlin is the founder and CEO of gift strategy and logistics company The Ruhlin Group. He is also the author of Giftology (Lioncrest Publishing, June 2016) and a regular speaker on the subject of gift-giving in business.” img=”https://business-digest.eu:443/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/BD286Ruhlin-1.jpg”]
To give is human
“Going back to ancient times, you read about kings giving kings cattle in proportion to how much they valued the relationship,” says John. “Giving is in our DNA. We all want to be valued. But in business today, gifts are usually given generically or as a bribe or not at all. Many of our clients admit that they don’t even know what to give their significant others, so how can they know what to give their professional contacts?” The best gifts are meaningful and take people by surprise, John explains. He points to one of their recent projects for the Chicago Cubs baseball team as an example. When John’s team found out that the old wood from the Cubs’ lockers was going to be thrown out, they brainstormed ways to put it to better use. “They thought it was weird when we asked them to give us the wood,” laughs John. “We ended up using it to build 400 Bluetooth speakers and told the Cubs’ management to give them to their 400 most valuable relationships. The response from the people who received this thoughtful artefact as a gift has been overwhelming.”
Acknowledging the value of your relationships
“We eat our own dog food,” says John, explaining that the Ruhlin Group as a whole is committed to showing thoughtful appreciation in their relationships with their own clients and employees. “We show appreciation for our employees by, for example, paying to have their houses cleaned every other week. And we empower our teams to be givers in their relationships with our clients. Each account manager is given a yearly budget to invest in acts of appreciation, with the team of 10 as a whole equipped to invest hundreds of thousands of dollars each year.” Up to $250, account managers are free to invest as they see fit; higher spending than that, and they must check in first. Decisions around how much to spend are based on how much business clients give the company and, for prospects, the value of potential business. “Our policy is to invest 5% of the low end of net profits, and 15% of the high end of net profits,” John reports. “This might seem like an insane amount of money to be spending, but the outcome — stronger relationships — is worth the investment.”
