Who is weathering the storm with you?

During this challenging financial period it's interesting that employers are still trying to keep employee morale high though forced to introduce pay cuts, employment freezes, redundancies and other cost-cutting techniques. Many companies are still doing that little something to show they care about their members of staff. They give employees the day off on their birthdays, do collections to celebrate long serving members of staff and pop champagne when monthly team objectives are achieved.

Perhaps the above is a bit too much for your company on the monetary front. Well, appreciate them with a personalised chocolate bar on their birthday then or at Christmas and Easter? £1.50 or less could go a long way expressing your gratitude to that employee who's weathering the financial storm with you!

We supply various sizes in milk chocolate and have mint chocolate too @ www.chocolatatoi.com See you there!

Graduate Fairs & Favours

It's been 3 years since my husband graduated from Uni but I still stumble on some of the freebies he picked up from various companies at Graduate Fairs. I have often seen an interesting company name and searched for it on the net wondering what they do. In fact, I have signed up for one newsletter or the other on those sites. Ive also pondered seriously if I should have studied Mechanical Engineering instead of French, taking not only my recently discovered technical flair into consideration but also the stress ball in my hand branded with a mechanical engineering firm's logo. He has since joined a world class firm whose stand I had the privilege of visiting with him at one of those fairs.

Indeed some of those freebies didn't last very long or even make it home from the Fair such as the chocolate. Do I remember those companies? Yes. Actually, they were the first ones whose websites I visited on getting home. It's easier for students to build rapport at the stands where they keep returning for chocolate. They also get the opportunity to find out about your organisation especially if you're new to Graduate Recruitment. Word goes around quicker about the company that has chocolates than those who go through the same old motions. Remember, there's something about chocolate that makes everyone relax so be sure to have some at your stand at the coming Fairs.

Have a look at www.chocolatatoi.com for inspiration or if you have something in mind already email us now - info@chocolatatoi.com

Baby Announcement Chocolate Favours

Spreading the joy of a baby is already sweet news. Spreading it with chocolate favours is even sweeter. Yet, it seems like a tricky one as you may want to add a photo or baby's weight, height etc. Also, you would like the favours to get out before the news gets out. So how do you manage the time frame and probably lack of information?

1) You will need to have decided on the colour of your wrapper whether or not you know baby's sex - feminine, masculine or unisex.

2) In addition, you will need to have your wrapper designer's number easily accessible. Have your birth partner send Baby's height, weight etc to your wrapper designer as soon as possible after baby's arrival.

3) Make a list of all those you would like to receive the favours with their addresses and hand it to your wrapper designer.

4) If you plan to have a photo on the wrapper, most hospitals have a photographer who can take one immediately. This can be scanned via email to your wrapper designer. Better still, get your birth partner to take a photo and email it.

5) Try to send baby's photo and details within 24 hours of the birth that way your chocolate favours can be in the post within 48 hours. Plus, all your loved ones will have something to celebrate the news - a tasty bar of chocolate. Yummy!

6) Sending out a birth announcement with just baby's name on it works even easier if you have decided a name at the time of birth.

Good Luck for your yummy mummy days ahead!

Don't forget to check out our website for wrapper design ideas - www.chocolatatoi.com

Christmas & Clients

We all have our favourite brands when it comes to purchases especially major ones. When it comes to our businesses, do we think of putting in the best to make our businesses, our clients favourite? We invest reasonably heavily in our websites, stationery, equipment and labour. All these show our clients we care about our image. However, how do we show our clients that they are important?Well, you may say, I've built an impressive website to attract my potential clients with a good search tool available as well. Great, but that's a marketing strategy. We know an easy to use website keeps clients coming back instead of heading to a competitor. Nevertheless, we've all used websites that were a mile short of a nightmare were it not for what we so desperately needed from the site and could not get! That means you had better be offering much more than just a well designed and 'tech-ified' website!

So my question is what are you doing to endear your client to your company? Yes, you provide great services and offer discounts all year round but the bottom line is that they are paying for these services or goods. Tosin Ogunkunle is a market researcher and DBA (PhD in business) student. Every Christmas, he receives a thank you bar of chocolate from his Car Insurance Company. Tosin is not a chocoholic but said it makes him feel that his custom is important and appreciated. "They are genuinely wishing me a happy holiday not looking for a way to drain me at Christmas with sales and discounts!" He said he doesn't gobble the chocolate immediately. "The wrapper is nice, 'Christmasy' and also has my name on it so I just put it on the cabinet with my Christmas cards then enjoy it on Christmas Day!"

How much could it cost to say thanks to your clients for supporting your business this year? From as little as 50p to £1.50 depending on how many customers you want to appreciate and the size of chocolate bar you choose. Are you going to build credit with your customers or crunch them with offers and discounts?