Stand Out From the Crowd

Several years ago I was attending a local Chamber of Commerce event and was speaking to a local insurance agent that I knew. We were talking about how their vendors stopped by their office every month and left goodies for them. Little sticky pads and pens and other SWAG with their name and logo. But there was one vendor who dropped by every month with some type of food item. One month it could be donuts and another month it could be chocolate. But he said the one they remembered every month was the vendor who left food for them. There was an emotional attachment to the food and it stood out from the crowd. Another story is a personal one. Many years ago I worked for an insurance company. Every year during the holidays we received lots of gift baskets and gift towers for our department to share. One year was particularly overwhelming. I had to write down who sent what, to send out thank you notes, but the gifts that I remembered who they came from, were the ones that stood out by virtue of the gift itself or the timing. The gifts that we received early- around Thanksgiving - stood out from the crowd as did a couple of other gifts, simply because their packaging was a little different - or the gift itself was a little different. Stand out from the Crowd! Send your gift early, send something a little different, send something with a special significance. Just keep putting your name out there!