The value of a free gift

Words: 295
Reading Time: 0 minute 59 seconds

To be of value a free gift need not cost you very much, or anything at all, but it must have some value to the recipient. If it does not have this quality then it will be seen as worthless – or worse – whatever it may have cost you.

A very knight of this soft and sea-girt isle is seeking to develop some land close to where I live. As part of the “planning gain” he is obliged to offer he proposes donating land to the local primary school. However, the amount of extra land the school gets will still leave it below the minimum area deemed necessary for a school of that size.

From the school’s viewpoint the offer is seen as minimalist and mean-spirited. Moreover, it undermines their case with the local education authority for greater facilities, because their shortfall would be marginally less. If they accepted the gift they would actually be worse off.

This is clearly a case where the giver of the gift has completely failed to see it from the other side of the table. The gift is a poisoned chalice. It neither recognizes, nor solves the school’s problem.

And the giver has also damaged his own image instead of enhancing it. Rather than painting a picture of someone generous, open-handed and willing to contribute to village life, he comes across as a typical Scrooge; self-interested and miserly.

It’s marketing myopia all over again.

Business suggestions, for him as well as others:
1) Find out what the recipients value, do not just assume;
2) Connect the dots by showing how it feeds their dreams;
3) Make it freely available; do not impose pre-conditions;
4) The gift will change the relationship, make sure it’s to your benefit;
5) Go the extra mile; it’s not that far.