Value perception of a Gift

'Its the thought that matters' is a oft used line when one gets a gift - the assumption being that the gifter has given enough thought to the likes and dislikes of the giftee to make this the perfect representation of what the giftee would love and swoon over. But have you noticed that this line is usually used when the 'swooning' does not happen. If the giftee really loves the gift, the eyes sparkle, the face lights up, the smile widens and a bear hug usually follows or at least a heartfelt Thank you. If none of the above happens and you get this line from the giftee - rest assured the gift was not liked that much but the giftee is too polite to say it.

Let's be frank among friends - isn't that the truth? How many times have you used this line on someone when you were not too pleased with the gift but had to show that you were.

A very basic core emotion of humans is satisfaction which comes from materialistic things. We put a value to all things that we experience in life. Our perception of the value may differ from someone else's but we do put a value on 'it' and IT also includes gifts that we get from time to time. When we get an unexpected gift or when we get a gift we really wanted and love, we show our emotions much more easily because we have put tremendous value on that gift. The 'Value Quotient' is very high.

This dichotomy between value and thought hit home recently on two diverse occasions. I am a strong believer in the 'thought' process of gifting i.e to gift a unique thing to close people after giving it considerable thought. I have gifted things like a bar game to people who enjoy drinks, a unique ash tray to friends who smoke, a framed group photo with messages from all the friends and some more.

For one of my friend I have been gifting these unique gifts over a period of time. Some of the gifts have been expensive and sometime not but each gift had a thought process, a reason and effort behind making it. In my perception the VQ was high but not for my friend. This year I gave my friend a branded product - something where I put a thought but low effort. The reaction was interesting as the friend thought that I had 'upped' the bar this year with the gift. For my friend, this gift had a high VQ!

At the other end, I recently gave another friend a unique customised pair of shoes where I put a lot of thought into the design, the colour scheme, the message, the type of shoe and followed up with the artist to get it done. For me the VQ was extremely high for this gift. When I showed it to some other people though for them the statement was 'You are gifting a shoe'? It just hit me that the VQ for my friend may not be that high for the gift.

At the end of the day all of us value the percieved monetory aspect of the gift rather than the thought given to the gift and that's a reality. In 2012, lets make a resolution to try and get beyond that.

When you get a gift, look at the thought process behind the gift and not the monetory value. If you say - 'Its the thought that matters' - mean it!