GREAT 107 IDEA: Use Food as a Selling Tool

Since everyone eats, food is a cheap and effective marketing tool. Most banks offer customers free coffee and tea, as well as bowls filled with lollipops. They also host barbecues for their customers and employees throughout the summer. The barbecues not only give people a chance to socialize, but also help the bank's management keep up with what's going on in their offices.

Food is often the most appropriate gift for business purposes. Holiday gift baskets filled with southern delicacies, including divinity, pecan rolls, and miniature pecan pies, were a huge hit among our clients and associates—so much so that I sent the same basket two years in a row, then switched back to Harry & David fruit baskets the following season.

One of the nicest presents we've received from a client was an attractive wicker basket filled with wine, goblets, coffee, chocolate, and gourmet snacks. Try sending gifts at Thanksgiving to beat the holiday rush.

Food gifts have another advantage: they are appreciated by everyone, no matter how affluent they may be.