The ultimate holiday gift guide for clients

December 19, 2016 3:58 PM

Click through to read how advisers selected, sent and packaged these holiday goodies for their clients. -- Editorial Staff

Yoko Fein an employee at a downtown San Francisco Macy's, wraps a purchase on Thursday December 21, 2000. Workers had to wrap quickly to keep up with the steady stream of customers

Noah Berger/Bloomberg News

The holiday season provides advisers with a great opportunity to show clients how much their business is appreciated. Gifts can say something special: From books and documentaries to picnic blankets and pecans, we've assembled some great ideas from advisers.

Click through to read how advisers selected, sent and packaged these holiday goodies for their clients. -- Editorial Staff

A useful gift that also promotes the firm

Lois Basil
Owner
Basil Financial Group
Chicago

This year, we gave Basil Financial Group picnic blankets to our clients.

They have a waterproof lining and zip up into a convenient carrying case. As our clients enjoy the parks, beaches, outdoor concerts, movies, and events throughout Chicago, we thought this would be a nice gift for our clients to use. We gave them out at our annual client appreciation event.

We had clients come to our office to pick up a boxed dinner and we walked one block to a large park in Chicago to listen to a Jazz concert in the gazebo. Clients sat on their new picnic blankets, ate dinner, listened to live music and then walked back to our office for cocktails and dessert. It was a great event!

Our feedback from clients on the blankets was very positive. Clients have shared that they keep the blanket in their cars for impromptu outdoor activities and like how they fold up. We also like how our logo stays visible when the blanket is unfolded, as a way to share our firm with Chicago.

Reminding clients of simpler times

Josh Jalinski
President
Jalinski Advisory Group

Every year, we go all-out and host the Financial Quarterback’s Christmas and Hanukkah Party. The annual party serves as a 'thank you' gift to the clients who we consider as part of our family business.

Many of our clients are retirees. We want them to treat them like gold so we have a special guest entertainer. I got the idea from a financial adviser friend of mine to have our clients hearken back to the days of the Rat Pack and Frank Sinatra. So we gave them a special treat this year: We got cover artist Michael Dutra of Strictly Sinatra to headline the event. As our clients age, many are losing their loved ones and we want to remind them of simpler, happier times.

A book that reminds clients of the importance of financial planning

Jamie Cox
Managing Partner
Harris Financial Group
LPL Financial
Richmond, Virginia

"Exploring Advice" by Kevin Knull is a must have for anyone who wants either to provide or to receive "good advice" -- a term that Knull masterfully defines for the first time using data from millions of financial plans and commentary from some of the financial industry's key thought leaders and sharpest minds. Clients will love it because it describes what is possible for their financial future when they are "understood" by their advisers.

Freshly baked homemade treats

Sunaina Mehra
Client Relations and Marketing Manager
Francis Financial
New York

Every year Francis Financial believes in thanking all of their clients and closest referral partners during the holiday season. President and CEO Stacy Francis and her marketing team spend a few days baking homemade cookies from scratch and then bring their entire team together to help package them in little boxes with a note and recipe of the cookies.

Each white box is packed with teal tissue paper (their company color) a sticker of their logo on the outside and 5 freshly baked cookies. They ship these within New York and to all of their clients across the United States. Even though this team spends extra hours outside of work to bake cookies, package and deliver them, they believe the thought goes a long way and is appreciated by the recipients.

By early November they start receiving inquires when the freshly baked cookies will be arriving this year and receive beautiful thank you messages from clients and referral partners.

"Keep calm and stay warm"

Jonathan Blau
President and CEO
Fusion Family Wealth
Woodbury, New York

Our gift this year is a blanket and holiday card addressing the anxiety-inspiring year we just had.

The card reads:

"Many of our friends and clients have shared that this year brought with it a lot of anxiety! We know that this too shall pass … and encourage everyone to remain optimistic. When anxiety spikes, stay calm, and as the winter chill approaches, stay warm! Best wishes from the Fusion Family for a happy holiday season and a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year!"

Helping clients find lost items

Bobbie Munroe
Senior Planner and Investment Adviser
Supporting Your Choices
Havana, Florida

This year we are giving XY3 Find-Its — devices that help relocate items like phones or keys — to our clients. We assume that if they can't use it, they surely know someone who does. In the past we have given boxes of Amaretto and plain pecans based on the theory that special treats are a favorite during the holidays. I suspect we will get some clients saying "I was so looking forward to the pecans."

Honoring clients with charitable donations

Liz Miller
Summit Place Financial Advisors
Summit, New Jersey

We do not send individual gifts, but each year we make a donation in honor of our clients (and special select friends of the firm) to a cause that we hope will resonate. This year I am struck by our country’s need to educate skilled young people who will be employable in the future. We will be giving to Teach for America.

Sharing inspiring stories

Bob Kargenian
President
TABR Capital Management
Orange, California

For the past six years, we’ve sent a book to our clients for Thanksgiving with a letter. The book has typically been something inspirational like "The Last Lecture" by Randy Pausch, a former Carnegie Mellon professor who died at a young age. Last year, we sent "The Opposite of Spoiled" by Ron Lieber, The New York Times personal finance columnist.

This year, I came across something different that I thought was compelling. In an ESPN Magazine article, I read about Steve Gleason, a former NFL player who was diagnosed with ALS at 34. His documentary Gleason debuted earlier this year at Sundance and the DVD was available November 1. It was such a gripping, real-life story about courage and love that we wanted to share it with clients. We sent out 275 of them with our Thanksgiving letter.

Sending clients a reminder of home

Thomas Boyd
President and Senior Financial Adviser
The Boyd Financial Group
Fairhope, Alabama

This was our 33^rd year of sending shelled pecans as a holiday gift. Now that many of our clients are scattered around the country, pecans for the holidays are a nice reminder of their southern roots. By the way — pecans are a fruit, not a nut; and in the South we pronounce it 'pah-kahn,' not 'pee-can!'

Small, simple and no-calorie

Abraham Otoupal
Financial Adviser
D.A. Davidson
Redmond, Washington

We believe in the value of a small gift each holiday season as a way to send greetings and thank our clients without leading them to believe we are spending their hard-earned dollars on larger items.

Our book is segmented, and we usually vary gifts by client level. For our top clients, we like to give a plant – something that will last beyond the season and something they will see regularly that stands out from other gifts and might bring a smile. We also mail a hand-held appointment book with the name of our group on it. Older clients especially still appreciate that. We try not to give sweets or food items that add to some clients’ struggle to hold down the calories this time of the year.

In addition, we’ve started a tradition of giving a personalized gift during the spring – at a more unexpected time – and that seems like more of a home run for us.