A few years ago I was working as an insurance broker selling car insurance. There was one person that kept sending me referrals. Dozens of business referrals and sales leads every month. I made a lot of money off of these referrals. I wanted to buy this person a gift as a thankful gesture. I went out and bought an expensive bottle of wine. Just before I was to give this person the gift, I was discussing it with my boss. I told him that I had bought the bottle of wine for this person as a business gift. My boss stopped me right in my tracks. I was not allowed to give the bottle of wine as a gift.

It turns out that as a licensed insurance broker, it was against the association's guidelines to give anything other than a nominal business gifts to clients. A nominal gift may be something like a coffee mug, a pen, a desktop business card holder, and so on. Anything more could be misinterpreted as a kick-back. A kick-back is often seen as inappropriate and portrays an image of favoritism. You hear media stories of this all the time in politics. It doesnt leave a good impression.

An insurance broker that gives anything more than a nominal gift could have his broker's license revoked by the broker's association. So I could not give my gift of a bottle of wine to this person.

Is giving a business gift to your corporate client appropriate? Yes or no?

Even though it may be a good business networking tactic, it may not always be appropriate.

Not all salespeople belong to a governing association that has a stringent set of rules in regards to corporate gift giving. But, if you do not belong to a governing association, your own employer may have a company policy on corporate gifts. Not only that, the recipient of your business gift may work for a company that has a policy on accepting business gifts.

An act of generosity may have unintended consequences. So, before you buy anything more than a nominal gift for a client, find out if its even appropriate or permitted.