Closing Gifts (Applies to anyone in sales)

 

CLOSING GIFTS
By Jim “Gymbeaux” Brown, September 24, 2026

BACKGROUND: I retired from the real estate business in 2012 after 33 years in the business. One question that continually surfaced was “closing gifts” for customers. Do you engage in the practice or not? If you engage, how much do you spend? Do you know how much the Internal Revenue Service permits you to deduct on your income tax return identified as closing gifts to customers? Obviously, I have been out of the business for over 13 years and things change but I was shocked to discover that the IRS has NOT changed the amount for at least that length of time even though the cost of everything has gone up and not down. 

To be honest, it is exceedingly difficult, if not impossible, to purchase a closing gift worth less than the IRS limit of $25.00 that has the desired meaning for giving such a gift to your customers. According to ChatGPT, here is a summary of the IRS rules extracts in September of 2026:

“The IRS generally allows you to deduct up to $25 per customer, per tax year for business gifts.

For example, if you are a real estate agent and give a customer a $100 gift basket at closing, you can generally deduct only $25 of its cost.

The $25 limit applies to the total gifts you give the same customer during the year, not to each individual gift.

There are two useful exceptions:

·         Packaging and shipping: Gift wrapping, engraving, and shipping may be deductible in addition to the $25 if they do not increase the gift's value.

·         Promotional gifts: Items costing $4 or less, permanently displaying your business name and widely distributed, generally don't count toward the $25 limit.

Keep receipts and records of the recipient, date, and business purpose.”

What can you give to a customer that would serve the purpose of keeping you and the service you provide ever present in their mind. Here are some negative things about closing gifts that I have observed over the years.

Flowers – they typically die quickly.

Plants – some succeed and some do not. If the customers eventually plant them in the ground, they remain with the house even after the customer may have sold it and therefore would serve no future purpose to keep your name ever present in their mind. If the plant dies that would be a negative reminder.

Meals. You can get a delicious meal, or you can get a bad meal. Customers may temporarily remember a delicious meal but for how long. I can assure you that they will remember a bad meal and whoever gave it to them for an extraordinarily long time. Meals have no shelf-life after the customers eat them.

Where am I going with this Nugget? Do I believe in closing gifts or not? I do believe in not only using closing gifts but also giving gifts of thanks in general. Why are closing gifts and gifts in general important for your business?

I will answer the last question first. They are NOT important to you and your business IF the closing gift turns out to be a bad gift OR the gift has no shelf life. By “shelf life” I mean, will the gift be around long enough to remind the customer of you and your service the next time the need arises? For most closing gifts the answer is no, they will not. If that is the case for the gifts you give, you may want to consider saving your money or changing your gift. As to the importance, you want the closing gift to have a shelf life with a positive memory and more importantly, whenever the customer sees it, the gift reminds them of you, the service you provide and how professionally you provided the service. Using real estate sales as an example, you want your gift to broadcast the message, “When YOU think of REAL ESTATE, you think of (insert your name)! If you currently give a closing gift, does the gift serve that purpose? If not, you need to rethink what you are doing and how you can do it better.

I would not write this Nugget if I did not think I had a better idea for people in sales to use and I do. Why? Because I know that it worked for me. First, you MUST eliminate the restrictions that the Internal Revenue Service has placed on you regarding the amount you can deduct as a business expense on your tax return. That restriction will significantly hamper your goal of helping the customer to remember you and the service you provided to them. Take whatever deduction you can and move on! Having someone remembering YOU and the SERVICE that YOU provide is far more important and is PRICELESS!

What checked the biggest box for me was giving people something that most people would want to keep and if they kept it, it would serve my desired purpose, being remembered! I purchased a box of note cards, the kind you would or should be using to write personal notes to probable customers and people you do business with. The cards I purchased had a pen and ink drawing of famous landmark type buildings located in the town I served, Slidell, Louisiana. By most city standards, Slidell would be a small town but even a small town with several memorable and iconic buildings.

I worked out an arrangement with a local art/frame store where they would mount three of the cards onto a colorful background, (I chose a simple solid blue felt like background) and then the store would frame them and cover them with glass. On the back of each creation, the store applied the brown paper that you see on all artwork like the one created for my customers. It was a beautifully finished product if I may say so myself. But…I was not done. I authored a poem, an original poem that I unfortunately have lost. The poem told the story about making a house a home (there is a difference). The premise was that a “house” just sits there until you insert a family and then it becomes a home where memories are created. I would take a Sharpie pen and copy the poem in my own handwriting on the back of each picture and then sign it.

Now, as the infamous radio announcer Paul Harvey would say at the end of each broadcast, “And now for the rest of the story!”

This is what happened and I swear as unbelievable as it may sound, it is just as I describe it. I do not recall any customer who received one of these works of art, never being extremely thankful for the gift. I have personally been in the homes that I had sold to customers who received the gift and it was still hanging on the walls within their home that they bought thirty or even forty years ago. They have told me that every time they notice it, they think of our sale together. That IS PRICELESS!

You can believe what I am about to tell you or not, that is your choice. I received a call from a woman who I had given one of these frames to and this is what she told me over the phone. “I was looking at the three cards, and I remembered that you wrote something on the back. I remembered that it was a nice thought when you gave it to me, but I had forgotten about it until this past week. I took the frame down to read what you had written, and it made me cry because it struck an emotional chord. I cried a lot and (as she said, here it comes) the tears dropped down on the back of the frame sitting on my lap and the ink ran and ruined what you had written. Can you send me a copy of the poem?”  That happened just as I had explained it. The actual words may have been different, but the message is the same. After all, this happened over thirty years ago so please do not fault me for not remembering the exact words she said. Due to a major computer crash, I lost the original poem I had written.

How much did the frames and cards cost? Great question. I think I may have spent $15 to as much as $25.00 on the box of cards but I do not remember how many cards were in the box. I did not consider the cost to be excessive. As I stated, I worked out an arrangement with the art store that they would get repeat business from me every time I closed a sale and they could put the name of their company and contact information on the back so it was a form of advertising for them and a business deduction for them as well. I do not remember the price we settled on but I remember it was less than $100 for each piece. It was more like $75.00. Keep in mind, I could deduct $25.00 on my income tax so that may the difference in the real cost to me was more like $50.00. Was spending $50.00 worth giving a customer something they would keep for life and that every time they saw it, they would think of me? Is a Giraffe afraid of ceiling fans!

If you could find something like the cards that I had discovered, you could do something similar. You could also save money by framing just ONE of the cards and making the item smaller and therefore much easier for the customer to find a place to hang it.

What did the finished product look like? This is one of the pieces the frame/art store made for me, and it still hangs on my wall as well.

I AM NOT ALONE!

I AM NOT ALONE (Thank God!);
IMAGINE THAT!
By Jim “Gymbeaux” Brown, September 8, 2026

I recently posted the following on a Facebook group page, “What’s Going on In Slidell”, thinking I was doing local restaurants a favor. Judging by some of the comments that were posted in response, you would think I was wrong and that I was complaining and/or bitching. 

“PUBLIC SERVICE REQUEST: Has anyone noticed that when you eat out, the portions on almost every plate have grown larger. Maybe it is my age, but I do not eat as much as I once did and the size of the plates actually "turn me off" rather than make me want to come back. If you look around, you don't see many people who are trim and healthy looking, you see a lot of obese people. The movement of the federal government is to Make America Healthy Again and eating better food and less food is one way to do that. Restaurants have a children's menu, why not a menu for people who prefer to eat less food or at least a senior menu? I was guilty. I have lost over 40 pounds over the past couple of years and all I did was choose to eat less food, and eat less sugar, nothing else has changed.” 

Most of the comments suggested that I request a to go box or bag and take the food home to be eaten later as if I did not understand that I could do that. 

AMERICA IS OBESE!  PERIOD!  END OF STATEMENT!  I have seen reports that a HUGE majority of young men and women could not physically qualify to serve in the military because of their weight.  One only need to observe to see that a great many Americans are overweight! 

Apparently, the following analogy needs to be said.  A gasoline engine requires gasoline to run.  The human body requires food to just stay alive. The gasoline and the food serve the same purpose, it keeps something running. You would not put 20 gallons of gas into a gas tank that only holds 17 gallons yet that is exactly what most people, certainly not you, do their bodies.  They put more food in than they burn off as calories which are required to keep from putting on excess pounds. 

As people grow older, some, if not most, become less active. I know this because I am now 81 years old as I write this.  I do not smoke; I rarely drink alcohol. I once was a runner that ran up to 10 miles at a time, and I played a lot of sports. I kept active until recently by maintaining the yard at our home. A permanently damaged knee, a broken back and age now keep me from doing any of these activities. It is simple math, if you do not burn off calories, you must reduce your consumption of food, or you will become overweight if not obese in your retired years. For the record, I have lost over 40 pounds over the past 2 years.  For the most part that is because I eat less and am careful to reduce the number of things I eat that contain a lot of sugar. 

My post was never intended to be a complaint or a bitch as some suggested. I was merely suggesting that local restaurants do what Middendorf’s of Slidell, LA has done; they offer a senior portion of many of their menu options. 

Habits are hard to break!  My parents taught us in the 1950s to eat everything on our plates.  It was not unusual to be told that there are starving children all over the world and it is our responsibility to eat what is in front of us on our plates. Obviously, that was an overstatement, but when you are taught lessons as a child, those lessons do NOT magically disappear from your unconscious mind, so you clean your plate well into your adulthood. “A happy plate is a clean plate!”  

Because of some health issues, my doctor has explained that your plate should be divided into types of food in relationship to “carbs” and sizes to help regulate your weight AND your blood sugar readings. Over the past several years, I have attempted to do that, and the result has been better blood sugar readings and the loss of 40 pounds; pounds that I put on despite a lot of running, sports and physical activities. I simply was NOT burning off more calories than I was taking in! One doctor joked about the best diet in the world was the “push away” diet plan.  He explained that simply pushing away from the table when you are full is a good plan. 

When I was young and healthy, I did not pay much attention to what or HOW MUCH I ate, and my weight was proof of that statement.  Keep in mind what I said, I do not smoke, I drink very little alcohol, in fact the only alcohol I drink is an occasional draft beer when we eat out. Plus, I was very active. Despite this routine, I managed to have a blocked artery that required open heart surgery.  I developed Type 2 Diabetes, I do not know why or how, but I did.  As I look around, it is impossible not to see grossly overweight people and my only thought is that if they do NOT have heart and blood sugar issues, it is only a matter of time. 

To say I was shocked that people would find fault with my post would be an understatement!  I was in the sales business for over thirty-three years.  The one thing I fully understood was that the customer was always right, even when they were wrong.  When I go to a restaurant, I am a customer.  I was simply stating a fact as to what THIS customer was thinking and would like to see happen as I looked down upon a plate of food that I could not possibly eat in one setting.  Many comments suggested that I eat at home and believe me, I have considered it.  I also have considered that taking my wife out for a night out is more important.  Call me selfish, I would like to have both a night out with my wife and a plate that did not runneth over with food I would never eat. 

I made the post without asking CharGPT if I might be the only person who thought like this.  I later did ask the question and the following is the answer.  In short, I am NOT alone (as many of the response posts would suggest).  I attribute most of the comments to people who are not nearly as old as I am so there is no way they could put themselves in my shoes BEFORE they made such critical comments implying I am too stupid to realize I could take the excess food home.  Dah!  

FROM CHATGPT: NOTE: Sections of the answer emboldened by me were also underlined for emphasis.

Yes, but with an important qualification: I could not find a large U.S. national survey that asks seniors the exact question, “Would you like restaurants to offer a senior-sized portion?” There is, however, fairly good research supporting the idea that many older adults prefer smaller portions and would benefit from having them offered.

One particularly relevant study interviewed older adults about their eating habits. Participants repeatedly described having smaller appetites, wanting smaller meals, disliking food waste, and sometimes ordering children's portions because regular restaurant portions were too large. The researchers specifically recommended that food-service businesses routinely offer smaller portions and noted that these could correspond to “senior menus.”

There is also quantitative evidence that older people actually eat smaller portions. One population study found that for 109 of 126 foods—86%—older adults consumed smaller portions than younger adults.

Restaurant research supports the concept as well. A CDC-published study of restaurant owners found that some restaurants already offered multiple portion sizes, with senior menus specifically cited as an established example of smaller portions. Owners said the reasons included giving customers more choice and allowing lower prices.

And a particularly interesting 2026 restaurant study compared customers ordering meals of 700 calories or less with customers ordering regular portions. The people choosing the smaller portions tended to be older. They consumed substantially fewer calories, reported essentially the same fullness, and most said they would order the smaller portions again.

What we can—and cannot—say

I would not claim something like “75% of seniors want senior menus,” because I haven't found a credible national study establishing a percentage like that.

But there is defensible evidence for saying:

Research indicates that older adults generally consume smaller portions, commonly report reduced appetites and concerns about wasting oversized servings, and can be well served by restaurants offering smaller, lower-priced portions.

There's an interesting business idea hiding in your question, too: rather than a stereotypical “Senior Menu,” restaurants could put a symbol next to entrées indicating “Smaller Portion Available — Reduced Price.” Seniors get what they want without being restricted to a separate menu, and anyone with a smaller appetite could order it.

Conclusion: The conclusion should be obvious.  Restaurants should either include a “senior menu”, mark their existing menus that “senior portions are available.”  Business Rule #2: The Customer is ALWAYS right, even when they are wrong!  What is Business Rule #1 you ask?  Never piss off a potential paying customer, EVER!