Laura’s Winning Ideas

Office supplies:

Proposal folks often harbor office supply fetishes. Just ask and you’ll find out that Don only uses Pilot G-2 pens with an 05 tip. We usually have to buy our own since the company often doesn’t carry our current favorite.

Two dozen of these are much appreciated. Now we don’t have to fret if someone carries one away from our desk.

Come to think about it, a proposal person who doesn’t have a pen fetish is unusual.

Food:

Real food is a treat for proposal folks. Some teams work without hot meals. A gift certificate for a restaurant that delivers to the office in the evening is much appreciated. (hint: Marie Callendar’s does this in some cities.)

Skip the cake and brownies. Everyone sends these, and the smart proposal teams avoid eating them until the proposal is out the door. Devils food cake at 1 AM anyone?

A basket of unusual and appealing fruit is a good gift. Deliver perishables on Monday so they get used before the weekend.

Massage:

A gift certificate for a massage may get lost in the back of the desk drawer until it expires. Instead, send a masseuse into the office. I’ve used both the seated massages in the office and also turned an office into a private massage room for a half day for the team to each lie down for an hour and get pummeled.

Flowers:

I’ve always liked a gift of flowers. In Austin, I was a regular at a shop that would make up a set of small bouquets, one for each member of the team. However, if you have someone with allergies, this might not be so well appreciated. I had to stop bringing flowers when a new member was pretty allergic to the blooms.