Ep. 209: John Ruhlin Shares How to Give Good Gifts

Selling the Dream: A Podcast for Resort & 2nd Home Real Estate Agents

Are you interested in surprising and delighting your clients?

You may want to look into giving better gifts! And we’re not just talking about getting some cheap swag, and putting your logo on it!

Everyone gives swag or logoed items for anniversaries, birthdays, and Christmas (we call those ABC gifts).

But if you want to be like Seth Godin’s purple cow, and stand out, you’re going to want to be completely different!

Gifts surprise and delight your clients, and make them feel special and noticed.

It’s not about the transaction, or even the item itself (although you need to be strategic about what you choose!), but it’s all about making the recipient feel special and valued.

The relationship is the key: make your clients feel like their relationship is worth investing in, and they’re going to remember you!

If you can get your clients selling for you, and bringing in those quality leads, you’ll be amazed at how the money invested into good gifts pays off: and fast!

So stop giving crappy gifts, and tune in this week to hear about how you can give better gifts, even if you’re just starting out, and don’t have a big budget!

This week on the Selling the Dream podcast, I’m talking to John Ruhlin, author of the book Giftology, about how you can strategically give gifts! If you’re ready to explode your market and surprise and delight your clients and leads, you won’t want to miss this week’s episode of the Selling the Dream podcast!

Before we dive in: join an amazing network of the best second home agents. Make sure that you create your free profile on the Second Home Agents website? Go over and get started: it’s FREE to join. Click here to register, fill out your profile and get listed today.

Highlights of this episode:

• Tom introduces John Ruhlin and his business, Giftology.

• Most businesses rise and fall based upon relationships with their employees, clients, or centers of influence referrals.

• John shares his experiences with people giving gifts when he grew up. It was never transactional, it was relational!

• Gifts aren’t just about the gifts: it’s a delivery of emotion!

• There’s a huge difference between some cheap swag and something that’s going to be treasured for years.

• You can’t just slap your logo on cheap items and call that a gift!

• John tells the story about how his wife worked in gifts, and encouraged him to give better items that people will actually like.

• “I don't care if you're a billionaire. We all crave to feel like our life matters. We all crave to be treated like a human being, not a number.”

• Swag is fine, but don’t confused it with a gift.

• Treat your employees just as good as you treat your billionaire clients!

• Get to know the gatekeeper for the person you want to target, and treat them like gold!

• Take a look at the impact of your gifts, and then it only makes sense to invest in giving good gifts!

• John talks about what to do if you don’t yet have the budget for really high level gifts, if you’re just starting out in the industry.

• Be a purple cow: stand out!

• Pick a category, and go best in class!

• Your goal is to be the first person that others think about in your industry.

• “ If you can turn your clients into sales reps for you, it's game over.”

• Sometimes we’re very generous as humans, but lose that in business. Look for ways to give and invest in those relationships!

• John talks about when not to give gifts.

• Avoid giving ABC gifts: anniversaries, birthdays, and Christmas. Give at unexpected times!

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As always, thanks for listening. Don’t forget, you’re not selling a home: you’re selling the dream.

See you next time!