Tell us about your company, The Gift Tailor, how it works and a little bit about your background.
Let me ask you to recall the last time you received a gift unexpectedly? How did you feel? Was there some curiosity and maybe excitement as you opened it?
Well, THAT feeling, that I suspect your feeling right now, is what I help people to create with their personal and professional relationships everyday
For 12 years I was a know-your-client lawyer researching clients for global firms. I’ve taken my deep-dive research experience, combined it with a personal love of helping folks find and give gifts, and now deliver that secret sauce to help busy folks in their gifting situations and projects – business or holiday-related.
How did you come up with the idea for The Gift Tailor?
It came out of personal need, I’ve had times of receiving ‘interesting’ gifts, or even no gift; and times when I’ve really wanted to give somebody a gift but because of life/work I made the gifting a low priority and it just never happened. I thought there must be others that have this problem. Wouldn’t it be nice if there were a service that could be me and get a gift? I ended up with how about you provide that service!
Tell us about the process of ordering a gift through your company.
Behind every gift there’s a story. Our gifts are tailored to your need, your context and what you want to convey, so here’s what we do . First we have a call to understand that context, then I go off and do all the creative research and design to curate a gift or a gift collection that would work well for the gifting situation. Clients are presented with 2-3 gift options. Once they’ve selected which they’d like to go with, we source, gift wrap / bag or box, then ship to my client, or now in this current climate, directly to the person they are gifting to. The work is all done by The Gift Tailor. My client is free to focus on their regular work, on doing what they love to do. Their gifting is taken care of, while they sit back and just receive status updates!
During the Holiday season, we’ll also offer an ‘off-the-shelf’ pop-up shop experience with some really cool items. Ideal for those that are shopping late night or last-minute gift shopping and need something to grab-and-go.
On average, how long does it take you to find and put together a gift for a client?
The greater the notice, the better to deliver the best I can for all my clients. I recommend 4-6 weeks ahead of the date needed in hands but am open to have a conversation for a rush order. My aim is to not compromise the clients already committed to, and still be able to deliver a great job.
Do you find that there is a difference in the types of gifts that people like to receive – i.e. different parts of the country or even overseas?
I do read surveys that highlight preferences and differences based on where in the country folks are. However, because our core offering is so tailored, I think it enables us to go deeper into the culture of the particular company or relationship (business or personal) involved, and build a gifting experience which speaks specifically to that.
Where I have given internationally, on behalf of a US-based client, I don’t seek to localize the gift to where the receiver is because there’s something nice, don’t you think, in not just receiving a gift, but a gift from overseas which you won’t find so readily in your country? So I try to keep that international element in the gifting experience.
What would you say is the most challenging thing about owning your own company? What do you find is the most rewarding about owning your own company?
Both Challenging and Reward is that: You’re your own boss! Some days you don’t have the discipline to work, and some days you don’t have the discipline to stop. Too much of one will make you broke, too much of the other will make you burn out. Now I ask my several times a day, “Am I being the employee I’d want to hire and keep?” I’m also working on being efficient and effective with my work time rather than grinding around the clock for the sake of it.
How do you connect with clients and understand the vibe they are going for when looking to you to put together a gift?
Having a conversation and/or asking them to fill out a questionnaire.
