To help your buyers understand the home buying process, offer them a way to manage all the information they will collect during their home search. A great way to do this is by creating a home buyer’s kit. Here are some things your kit should include:

Home buying process overview – Provide a clear, easy-to-understand overview of each step in the home buying process including a basic timeframe, financing options, how to search for and visit homes, how to choose the best home, how to negotiate the best terms, how to present the offer, and how to open escrow. Include a list of financial lenders, attorneys, contractors, escrow officers and any other vendors that you recommend.

Services overview – Explain to buyers how you manage the real estate transaction from start to finish, what types of communication they can expect from you, your contact information, and an overview of your working agreement.

Criteria clarification checklist – Help buyers put together a list of what they need in a home vs. what they would like to have. What features and amenities are non-negotiable? Which would be nice to have, but they could do without? For instance, do they have a neighborhood or school district they prefer? How many bedrooms and bathrooms? What type of home are they looking for? And so forth. If your clients are a couple, ask both parties to fill out their needs and wants – often, they will have different priorities.

Property searches – Show buyers how to search your website and the public MLS to find listings. Inevitably, they will also search for homes in print media, mailings, and driving around neighborhoods looking for “For Sale” signs as well. Clearly explain what they should do if they find one they like – such as emailing or faxing you for more information on the property. If you don’t explain what your clients should do if they find a property they like, chances are, they will call the number listed on the sign, ad or website and talk with someone else.

Home evaluation worksheet – Include a worksheet buyers can fill out to rate different home criteria such as the property exterior, interior rooms, location, community features, and other amenities on a scale of one to five. The worksheet should also have a section where buyers can write down notes about what they like and didn’t like about the property.

Listing information – Each time you show homes, print the details of each of the listings they will be viewing so they can keep track of their home search. You may also want to include a map of the day’s itinerary so they know where you are headed and where you’ve been.

By creating a basic home buying kit for your clients, you can clear up some of the confusion and overwhelm they will face during their home search, while encouraging open communication throughout the buying process.

Most people have a short attention span and don’t want to listen to a long-winded sales pitch from a real estate agent. They want just the facts – how will the home be priced, how will it be prepared, and how will it be marketed.

1 – Price

How the home will be priced will determine its selling potential. While you can make suggestions for what the selling price should be, ultimately, it is up to the seller to determine the asking price. You can prepare a computer-generated comparative market analysis (CMA) to estimate the price, but that doesn’t take into consideration a number of factors – such as how the home is presented or what the turnaround selling timeframe is – that may influence the actual selling price.

Because many sellers will go with the agent who estimates the highest suggested asking price, it’s up to you to educate your prospects on the merits and drawbacks of CMA analysis and what components sellers should use to determine a reasonable price buyers are willing to pay.

In addition, you should clearly explain the difference between selling a home for top price and selling a home for a quick turnaround sale. If sellers have a set timeframe, they might not be able to get top dollar for their home. Finally, explain options for re-adjusting the asking price if the home doesn’t receive any showings or offers within a set timeframe.

2 – Home Preparation

The second part of your listing presentation should tackle how to prepare the home for sale. You will want to address any glaring obstacles, tips for how to remove clutter and personal items, how to increase natural light in the home, how to make the exterior more presentable, and what information buyers are likely to ask for such as community information, a list of upgrades, and appliance warranty information. You don’t have to get into the specific detail of what you would do to stage their home at this point, but give them an idea of what work might need done as well as tip sheets and checklists to help them make their home more presentable to buyers.

3 – Marketing the Home

Finally, how will you market their home? Have a step-by-step marketing plan that outlines where you will advertise their listing, what your flyers and brochures will look like, how will market it on the internet, whether you will hire a real estate photographer or offer a virtual tour, how large your list of email subscribers is, how many visitors your website gets, and so forth. Have plenty of samples of ads, flyers, brochures and websites you’ve used to market your clients’ homes available to show them during the listing presentation.

By educating prospects upfront about the key components of the home selling process that will influence how quickly their home is sold, you can manage expectations and set the stage for better client communications during the working relationship.

Great real estate agents have a feedback system in place that allows them to collect information from potential buyers and can uncover any red flags that may be making the home less attractive.

Method 1 – Survey the Buyer’s Agent

Call, email or fax a follow up sheet to the agent who viewed the home with the buyer. Ask them a few simple questions like:

• What attracted the buyer to this home?
• What did the buyer think about the price?
• What didn’t the buyer like about the home?
• Do you have any suggestions for improving the home?

Method 2 – Survey Buyers After an Open House

When buyers come to an open house, greet them by asking them to participate in an email survey about the home. Not everyone will agree to participate, but for those who do agree, you get their contact information and permission to follow up with them about the home. The questions you can ask are similar to what you’d ask the buyer’s agent after a showing.

• What attracted you to this open house?
• What did you like best about the home?
• What didn’t you like about the home?
• What did you think about the price?
• Do you have any suggestions for improving the home?

You can also ask the buyer if they would like any additional information about the home and invite them to join your mailing list. (If they don’t respond, don’t automatically add them to your mailing list! You want to make sure you have permission to follow up with them.)

By collecting information about what buyers do and don’t like about the home, you will have hard data to present the seller about any major turnoffs buyers have with the home and leverage to convince the seller to make any changes that might be made. After all, buyers don’t make offers on homes they dislike, and if there are any major issues, it could lead to fewer or lower-priced offers.

Getting real estate referrals from clients isn’t difficult if you already provide great service. You probably already realize that disappointed clients don’t refer business, but happy clients will go out of their way to sing your praises.

Are you making it as easy as possible for your clients to refer new business to you? Here’s a quick 3-step guide to putting a referral system in place.

Step 1: Set An Expectation For Referrals

When you first start working with clients – even before you sign the agreement – set an expectation for referrals. Explain that you get the majority of your clients from referrals and that as part of working with you, you expect that once they see what a great job you do, they will refer at least two other people to you. Explain that this allows you to spend more time caring for and serving your clients rather than spending the bulk of your resources prospecting for clients through advertising and direct mail, as most agents do.

When is a good time to ask for referrals?

• When you first start working together – Making referrals an expectation or part of your working agreement is a great way to pave the way for referrals.
• At celebratory moments – Clients are most appreciative of your services when things have just gone extremely well for them. Use one of those opportunistic moments to ask for referrals – and follow up with a letter or email explaining that you market your business primarily by referrals and would they know of anyone whom they could refer.
• After the transaction completes – Take a gift basket or other nice gift over to your clients to check up on them after they’ve moved in. Again, ask them for referrals, while explaining how you will provide the same level of service they received from you to anyone they refer to you.

What shouldn’t you do? Maybe you’ve heard those horror stories about door-to-door salesmen who would demand you write down 5 names of people they could call on while you watch. Don’t be that person! You don’t want to intimidate people into referring business to you.

Step 2: Make It Easy For Clients To Refer Business To You

Next, make it easy for clients to refer business to you. Let clients know who your ideal prospects are, the best ways they can refer business to you, and what you’ll do when they give you a referral, such as how you’ll contact the person, what you’ll say, and how you’ll follow up.

A good way to do this is to put together a one-page guide. By outlining your referral process, you reassure your clients that you won’t hound or annoy the people they refer, and you can give them the opportunity to be involved if they choose.

For instance, instead of saying “If you know anyone who needs my services, have them give me a call,” you might say “If you know someone who needs my services, give me a call first and we can discuss if I can help them and how to best approach them.”

Referrals are best if the referrer is involved. Can they set up a lunch appointment? Can they give their friend your special report that would be valuable to them right now? Can they write a letter or email recommending you?

Step 3: Reward Your Referral Sources

Finally, be sure to keep your referral sources up-to-date on the referrals they do give you. Let them know the status of the person they referred – did they become one of your clients? If so, how is that working out? Let them know you appreciate the referrals and consider rewarding them with a token of your appreciation.

One way to reward your referral sources is give an incentive for referrals you receive. Of course, you must make sure you are legally and ethically compliant, but there are many ways to be creative.

Can you hold a contest? For instance, anyone that refers business to you will receive an entry in your contest to win an all expenses paid trip to Hawaii as well as smaller prizes like an iPod or even cash if your ethics board allows it.

Or, perhaps you can give referral bonuses by partnering with local service providers. For instance, if someone refers three people who become your clients, you’ll pay your personal accountant to do their taxes this year or give them a 6-month gym membership to your local gym, 3 months of golf or cooking lessons or whatever else your clients might like.

Your referral sources will appreciate the gesture and be much more likely to send you new referrals in the future.

By taking some time to set up a referral system, you’ll drastically increase the number of clients who refer business to you.

Yesterday, I talked about the importance of nurturing your prospect list. Today, I’m going to shift gears and discuss what you need to do to build a referral-based business.

Last week, Mike asked me, “Where do you get the most bang for your buck in marketing?” Personally, I think there’s no question that it’s referral marketing. So why did I spend the last few days talking about building credibility, educating prospects, generating leads and following up consistently? Because when you’re starting out, those are the steps to building a referral-based business.

Most successful agents will tell you they get most of their clients through referral – and yet, a large portion of them spend considerable resources on prospecting and lead generation with only a small portion of their marketing budget going to cultivating referrals from past clients.

Initially, yes, you have to prospect because you need to build credibility and expertise. You need to learn the business cold, how to manage client expectations, and how to provide exceptional customer service. In other words, you need to get through The Dip (as Seth Godin calls it) – “the long slog between starting and mastery.”

Why Referral Marketing?

Most people erroneously believe that referral marketing doesn’t require much work. After all, if you do a great job, your clients should automatically refer people to you, right? If only that were true.

The truth is, creating a referral marketing system still requires all the basic principles of relationship marketing that I’ve previously talked about – except instead of focusing your attention on prospects, you create education-based marketing around past clients and continually follow up with a keep-in-touch strategy.

You might be asking – what could I possibly need to educate my past clients about? There’s always the local real estate market, local neighborhood events, or home improvement tips … but there’s also a great opportunity for you to promote other local businesses to start building a network of referral partners.

Once people move into a new home, there are quite a few things they might need: lawn care, landscaping, a swimming pool, new home additions, interior decorators, plumbers, electricians, and so on. You could easily interview any number of local business owners who would love exposure to your client list. With a bit of negotiation, you may even be able to get a referral fee from them for anyone who buys their services from your recommendation – thus giving you an added source of income.

Just as with prospecting, the more you follow up with clients and provide them with valuable information, the more likely you are to continue your relationship with them well after their home buying or selling process – and the more likely they’ll be to refer others to you.

How To Build a Referral Business

Building a referral-based business means you must focus on long term relationships rather than short term profits. Here’s what you need to do:

1. Decide who your ideal clients are. – This is incredibly important because you must be able to communicate what types of people you want to work with to others. If you simply ask for referrals, chances are, you’ll get referrals that aren’t a good fit for you or who won’t translate into business.
   
   
2. Fire (or refer out) any prospect or client that doesn’t meet your standards for an ideal client. – This can be difficult to do because no one likes to pass up work, but from a long-term perspective it’s essential. Bad clients are essentially psychic vampires – they consume as much of your resources as they can without giving you anything in return (aka referrals, positive recommendations, testimonials, or even a “thank you”). These types of clients might nickel-and-dime you, berate you for not doing something “their way,” complain about everything, or seem incapable of making a decision. In worst case scenarios, they demand so much of your attention that you don’t have time to provide exceptional customer service to those clients you like best – which doesn’t bode well for getting referrals in the long run, either.
   
   
3. Focus on delivering an exceptional customer experience worthy of talking about. – In order to create Sneezers, Raving Fans, and Customer Evangelists who spread the word about you to everyone they know, you must make it easy for them to talk about you. You must give them stories to tell where they’ll look “cool” to their friends and family while showcasing what great client service you provide.
   
   
4. Create incentives and make it easy for clients to refer business to you. – Give people a reason to refer business to you – such as by holding contests, offering free services with their vendor of choice (i.e. refer three clients and receive six months of lawn care), and holding client appreciation events.
   
   
5. Keep in touch consistently – Just like with prospects, following up is key. At minimum, you should add them to your newsletter, but also add bonus perks and personal correspondence that they’ll appreciate.

Creating a referral-based business can be extremely rewarding personally. It also costs less than prospecting because these people already know who you are, have worked with you, and know why working with you was an excellent choice. And having others tell your story, rather than you telling it, adds considerable credibility – you must be good if others are talking about you.

Tomorrow, I’ll give you a bonus sixth step – how I’d spend Mike’s $2500 budget as a new agent.

Buying or selling a home is a big decision, so regardless of what you’d prefer, you probably won’t be able to persuade people to move on a whim. That said, there are still opportunities to generate repeat business from past clients in the form of referrals.

How To Get More Referrals

First and foremost, your past clients are your best sources for referrals. In fact, most real estate agents say they get most of their business through referrals, yet the vast majority of them don’t have a formal system in place for asking current and past clients for referrals.

Here are some tips for generating more referrals:

• Set an expectation for referrals. When you start working with clients, explain that you get the majority of your clients from referrals and that you expect when the job is completed and they see what a great job you’ve done for them, they’ll refer others to you. Explain that this allows you to spend more time caring for and serving your clients rather than spending the bulk of your resources prospecting for clients through advertising and direct mail, as most agents do.
  
  
• Ask for referrals at celebratory moments. Clients are most appreciative of your services when things have just gone extremely well for them. Use one of those opportunistic moments to ask for referrals – and follow up with a letter or email explaining that you do your business primarily by referrals and would they know of anyone who they could refer.
  
  
• Ask for referrals just after the transaction completes. Take a gift basket or other nice gift over to your clients to check up on them after they’ve moved in. Again, ask them for referrals, while explaining how you will provide the same level of service they received from you to anyone they refer to you.
  
  
• Hold contests or give referral bonuses. Give others an incentive to refer business to you by giving referral bonuses or holding contests. For instance, anyone that refers business to you will receive an entry in your contest to win an all expenses paid trip to Hawaii as well as smaller prizes like an iPod or even cash if your ethics board allows it. Or, you can give referral bonuses by partnering with local service providers – if someone refers three people who become your clients, you’ll pay for your personal accountant to do their taxes this year or a 6 month gym membership to your local gym or 3 months of golf or cooking lessons or whatever your clients might like.
  
  
• Hold client appreciation events. Have an exclusive summer BBQ or a holiday Christmas party and invite your clients. Then, be the facilitator at your party by introducing people who might share common business goals or hobbies.

In addition to getting lots of great referrals, the longer you keep in touch with your clients, the more likely they will be to contact you when they move again. According to the 2005 National Association of Realtors Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, 82% say they were likely to use the same agent again or refer the agent to others. Yet only 11% claimed they had used an agent from a previous transaction. That’s a big opportunity for you.

• We assume we know the best way to market and advertise to prospects – that’s what everyone else does, so it must work, right?
• We assume clients are happy with our services – they’d tell us if they weren’t right?
• We assume clients understand the value of the services we provide – after all, we’ve gone out of our way to serve them several times, right?

Sadly, our prospects and clients don’t think the way we do. As Chip and Dan Heath wrote in their book, Made To Stick, we are burdened with the Curse of Knowledge. Simply put, we already know the value we bring to the table and why our services are so much better than others – but we fail to adequately explain those key principles in a way that our clients can easily understand. We find it difficult to remember what life was like back when we were beginners trying to learn all this information at once.

What can you do to overcome this Curse of Knowledge to better understand and serve your prospects and clients?

• Become fascinated with your prospects and clients. It’s far too easy to brush off prospects and clients because we’re too busy to talk with them or we don’t want to waste our time chasing leads that will never convert to clients. Yet each interaction we have with prospects and clients is a chance for market research. It’s a chance to listen and better understand one more person out there – what are their needs? What do they ask for? What needs aren’t being met? Where are they most confused? What do they fear the most? For each person you talk with, there are many more out there who share similar concerns.
• Listen. Ethical salesmanship is about listening to clients’ needs rather than pitching, hyping, or manipulating them into working with you. There are so many sales techniques out there that tell you to stick with a script when you talk with clients – yet often, you get so focused on sticking to the script, you miss the genuine concerns of clients. You’ll never adequately meet your clients’ needs if you don’t take the time to understand them.
• Explain your value. Your clients don’t know how much better you are than others – they don’t have a reference point or framework to evaluate you against everyone else. It’s up to you to inform and educate your clients about how you fulfill their needs. Often people don’t realize they’re getting great service or that you are going out of your way to serve them, so you must educate them and get them to understand and appreciate how you are helping them.
• Fulfill wants and needs. Often clients may want something that isn’t necessarily what they need. Your advertising, marketing, and client interactions must address their wants – but you should fulfill both their wants and needs.

In other words, never assume anything. Don’t assume your clients will appreciate what you do until you inform and educate them to the benefits and advantages of working with you. Don’t presume you know and understand their needs, wants, motivations, concerns and fears until you really listen to what they’re telling you.

What is Value?
Value is how prospects and clients perceive your business. Something is only valuable if it means something to your clients. You may brag that you’re a top producer agent in your area, but your clients want to know what you’ll do for them – specifically.

In many cases, value is an “emotional” component. Sure, it’s nice that you answer your phone quickly and your office is in a convenient location. Yes, it’s great that you are knowledgeable about the neighborhoods, school districts, and real estate market. Those are givens. If you aren’t at that level yet, you shouldn’t be in business. (Perhaps that’s harsh, but that’s what clients expect – they’re paying you for your expertise in these areas.)

But meeting those expectations is not enough. Prospects and clients want more – they want you to understand and empathize with the emotional journey they are on. They are trusting you with one of the biggest financial decisions they’ll ever make when they buy or sell their home. They aren’t going to be calm and rational as they weigh the pros and cons of each house – they are going to fantasize about whether they can build a family together here, how their kids will fit in, or whether this is a good place to retire.

Turn Problems Into Opportunities
Seeing that they are making decisions on an emotional level, it’s not surprising that home buyers and sellers can get testy and agitated when things don’t go their way. It’s inevitable whenever you work with someone over a period of time that at some point you will disagree on something. Maybe that disagreement is completely outside your control or maybe you do something that fails to live up to your client’s expectations. Either way, it’s up to you to restore trust and right the problem.

How you do that will determine in your client’s mind how good your service is. Problems are often springboards for opportunities. Think about the last problem you had – maybe you were overcharged on your phone bill, maybe your flight was canceled and you had to book a new flight 6 hours later, maybe you got a new digital camera that wouldn’t work, maybe you called support for your new computer because you couldn’t connect it to the internet.

What comes to mind when you think of these problems? Probably how the problem was resolved and how you were treated during the process. If your flight attendant ticket agent was apologetic and tried to compensate you by offering you a free ticket anywhere on their airlines and a free meal voucher for the airport in addition to booking you a new flight, you would probably feel she was extremely helpful. She made you feel special and went out of her way to make you feel as comfortable as possible despite the flight cancellation being out of her control.

What if, on the other hand, you call up your phone company’s billing department and after spending 10 minutes trying to navigate their automated touchtone call system, you are put on hold for another 25 minutes until a live person talks with you. That person doesn’t speak English very well and doesn’t seem to understand you were overcharged – according to the system, you changed your plan and there’s nothing he can do to remove the excess charge. So you ask to speak to his manager who is just as unhelpful. You hang up frustrated and vow to switch providers.

What’s the main difference between scenario 1 and 2? In scenario 1, the flight attendant ticket agent was empathetic. She showed you she cared and wanted to help you out in anyway she could. Yes, her company may have inconvenienced you by canceling the flight, but she tried to make it as pleasant as possible while coming up with the next best solution to the problem. On the other hand, your phone company tries very hard not to talk with its customers – from the automated phone system to the 25 minute hold time. They also obviously outsource their customer support oversees to cut costs (rather than support customers). The person you talked with didn’t make much of an effort to empathize with your concerns – he couldn’t solve your problem nor did he seem to care about trying to make things right. When you work with prospects and clients, are you empathetic to their needs or do you try to shuffle them off the phone at your most convenient opportunity?

Of course, that isn’t to say you should deliberately create problems so you can resolve them – it’s up to you to manage expectations from the start – but when problems do arise, put yourself in your client’s shoes. He wants this resolved as much as you do. Offer him an honest explanation along with a few possible solutions – and be sure to empathize with him and his pain.

What if, however, you could generate additional streams of income that could sustain you when the market goes south – or help you grow your business without incurring high customer acquisition costs? Here are some ideas:

1. Sell your own products. Print on demand services like Amazon.com’s CreateSpace makes it easy for anyone to publish their own book or audio cd. What if you sold 60 minute audio programs for $10-20 on topics like preparing your home for selling, a checklist for choosing the perfect home, how mortgages work, and so on? What if you wrote a 100 page booklet about buying a home in your particular area complete with helpful service providers that they might need? Sure, you wouldn’t get rich quick, but you could easily make a few hundred dollars/month selling them on your website.
   
   
2. Hold seminars and educational events. There are many business organizations out there who hold seminars and educational events for their members. Can you go to your local Chamber of Commerce and give a talk on what to know if you’re buying commercial real estate? Have you been a successful agent for years and can design a program that helps new agents get their business started? Can you join with those who offer complementary services (a lawyer, a mortgage broker, a financial planner, etc) to hold a seminar for consumers on what they need to know before buying their first home?
   
   
3. Form strategic alliances. Look at all the other service providers out there that your clients must use during the home buying or selling process that complement your services. For instance – movers, interior decorators, staging companies, storage places, plumbers, gardeners, pool maintenance, mortgage brokers, attorneys, financial planners, etc. What if you set up a deal where you’ll refer business to them for a referral fee? What if you’ll give them a referral fee for referring business to you? (Check with your local ethics boards to make sure this is ok with your local group. In some states, for instance, attorneys can’t partner with non-attorneys.)
   
   
4. Cultivate referrals from past clients. Most real estate agents get the majority of their business from referrals, yet they don’t have a formalized system in place that actively asks past clients for referrals. Do you follow up 30 days, 60 days, 90 days to see if there’s a problem with the new home? Do you keep in touch regularly – such as holding a client appreciation party?
   
   
5. Agent referrals. Do you have prospects that aren’t right for you but who you can refer out to other agents for a referral fee?

The secret to generating more money is building trust. You must build trust with referral partners – people don’t refer business to those they don’t believe will do a good job. You must build trust with current clients so they become happy, satisfied clients who value your recommendations. You must build trust with industry and trade organizations by demonstrating you have the expertise and leadership skills to help out their fellow members – they won’t just recommend anyone.

• Charitable Donations – My personal gift of choice to clients is to make a donation in their name to a charity. You can give a gift of service through the Seva Foundation or buy a chicken, ox or goat through Heifer International. There are all sorts of charities who would appreciate your donations. If you do decide to make a charitable donation, check with Charity Navigator to see how efficient your charity is as well as read articles on Top 10 Best Practices of Savvy Donors and 6 Questions To Ask Charities Before Donating.
  
  
• Food Gift Baskets – Food always is appreciative. One of my favorite places to order food gift baskets is FruitFlowers.com which delivers beautiful bouquets of edible flowers made of fruits and veggies. Other great food and gift basket shops include AAAFruitBaskets.com, Harry & Davids, Omaha Steaks, GiftTree.com and GiftBaskets.com.
  
  
• Wine – If you live in a state that allows wine shipments, a nice bottle of wine or a wine gift basket can be a great gift if you know your client is a wine lover. Check out AllWineBaskets.com or WineBasket.com for beautiful gourmet baskets. PersonalWine.com will even allow you to personalize the wine label. Wine of the Month Clubs are also fun.
  
  
• Throw a Holiday Party – Invite your top clients and referral partners and their families to a holiday party on you either at your office, a local restaurant or at your home. Then splurge on tasty food, treats for the kids or an open bar. Parties are a great way to mingle on a personal, informal level while showing that you appreciate their business.
  
  
• Gift Certificates – If you know where your clients and partners love to eat or shop, a gift certificate to their favorite store is a great gift. Who can’t put an Amazon.com, Starbucks or iTunes gift certificate to good use?
  
  
• Free Tickets – Tickets to the movies, sporting events, local theater shows and the like make for great gifts.
  
  
• Strategic Alliances – What better way to show your referral partners that you appreciate them and want to send them business than by partnering with them to send out a special offer like a gift certificate or coupon for a free consultation for their highly beneficial service. This can be anything from partnering with a local restaurant to give out $10 off coupons, a free 30 minute massage, cooking or wine tasting lessons by a local chef, a beautiful craft, photo or painting by a local artisan, a free service from a local professional, etc. Be creative and make sure your offer is solely for your recipient’s benefit. If it sounds like a sales pitch for the other’s services, it won’t be as appreciated.
  
  
• Your Own Products – With print on demand services like CreateSpace, Lulu, CafePress and Kunaki, it’s extremely easy to have your own books, cds, and dvds professionally produced in small quantities for a few bucks each.
  
  

Whatever you send, be sure to include a personal note of thanks and appreciate for your client or referral partner and whenever possible, refer specifically to the business he or she brought you. Think gratitude and sincerity rather than simply buying the most expensive gift you can afford.

Have another suggestion? Leave it in the comments below.