--- title: "Environment Management: Using Gift-Giving to Build Relationships" description: On today’s episode of Aligned, Sean is joined by Donald Kelly. Today’s topic? Using gift-giving to build relationships. image: https://blog.fitzmartin.com/hubfs/podcast_donaldkelly_featured.jpg --- [![FitzMartin](https://blog.fitzmartin.com/hubfs/Fitz-Logo-horiz-new-2.svg "FitzMartin")](https://www.fitzmartin.com/blog) [ Get In Touch ](https://www.fitzmartin.com/contact) [Podcast ](https://blog.fitzmartin.com/podcast) | Episode 46 # Environment Management: Gifts and Late-Stage Sales [Listen to episode](https://blog.fitzmartin.com/podcast/environment-management-using-gift-giving-to-build-relationships#ListenToEpisode) ![podcast_donaldkelly_hero](https://blog.fitzmartin.com/hubfs/podcast_donaldkelly_hero.jpg) When it comes to building relationships between a buyer and seller, gift-giving is a powerful and useful tactic that benefits both parties. But how can we successfully implement gift-giving without excess spending on prospects that don’t end up buying? In today’s episode of Aligned, Sean wraps up his three-part series with Donald Kelly by discussing proper gift-giving and how any seller can build and maintain relationships with their prospects. **Gifts should not be for everyone:** - Gifts should be mostly reserved for people later into the sales cycle, or at least in the middle. - If a seller were to buy gifts for every early-stage prospect, they’ll face exorbitant costs while also giving gifts to people who will not place as high a value on it as a buyer with an existing relationship with the seller. - Sales should not have control too soon when it comes to gift-giving; the buyer should be at a designated spot within the buying process to warrant gift-giving as an environmental control. - Sellers should not have private control over their sales data - if they spend company money to build relationships with clients, that information should be available to the organization that paid for it. **Bonus environment control: Use NDAs to help control late-stage deals:** - In general, it’s best to work with an attorney to utilize NDAs properly. - NDAs can be signed by both the selling and buying organizations to build comfort and reduce anxiety, especially in industries full of proprietary information (i.e. technology and software.) -  It is an olive branch that psychology develops commitment and introduces the notion of finality within the deal that encourages the buyer to close. **Aligned Episode Resources:** - Check out the prior two episodes in this three-part series discussing environmental controls, available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. - For more information and content from Donald, visit thesalesevangelist.com or connect with him on LinkedIn. - Visit fitzmartin.com for resources, articles, and other information that helps any business leader foster connections between their sales and marketing departments. Listen here or on [iTunes](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/aligned-podcast/id1472052181?i=1000580048226) • [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/episode/5j3b5C5xWlVhq8FFntmqLs?si=678e3fc740f745d6) [Download](https://blog.fitzmartin.com/hubfs/ALI_046.mp3) ##### Share #### Other Posts ## Discover More Insights, Thoughts, and Ideas ![](https://blog.fitzmartin.com/hubfs/podcast_lorisullivan_featured.jpg) [Marketing Technology: Making Sense of the Madness](https://blog.fitzmartin.com/podcast/marketing-technology/) ![](https://blog.fitzmartin.com/hubfs/podcast_seandoyle_featured.jpg) [Sales Enablement](https://blog.fitzmartin.com/podcast/sales-enablement-episode-4/) ![](https://blog.fitzmartin.com/hubfs/podcast_donaldkelly_featured.jpg) [Environment Management: Gifts and Late-Stage Sales](https://blog.fitzmartin.com/podcast/environment-management-using-gift-giving-to-build-relationships) ![](https://blog.fitzmartin.com/hubfs/podcast_lukeallen_featured.jpg) [The Role of Marketing in Late-Stage Sales, Part 1](https://blog.fitzmartin.com/podcast/the-role-of-marketing-in-late-stage-sales-episode-2/) ![](https://blog.fitzmartin.com/hubfs/podcast_lukeallen_featured.jpg) [The Role of Marketing in Late-Stage Sales, Part 2](https://blog.fitzmartin.com/podcast/the-role-of-marketing-in-late-stage-sales-episode-3/) ![](https://blog.fitzmartin.com/hubfs/podcast_donaldkelly_featured.jpg) [Commitment: Don't Lose Deals to Indecision](https://blog.fitzmartin.com/podcast/centricity-private-public-commitment-part-one) ![](https://blog.fitzmartin.com/hubfs/podcast_ianaltman_featured.jpg) [The Three Most Damaging Sales Tactics](https://blog.fitzmartin.com/podcast/the-three-most-damaging-sales-tactics) ![](https://blog.fitzmartin.com/hubfs/podcast_leemcknight_featured.jpg) [Terrible Sales Emails](https://blog.fitzmartin.com/podcast/terrible-sales-emails-episode-5/) ![](https://blog.fitzmartin.com/hubfs/podcast_seandoyle_featured.jpg) [The Value Triad](https://blog.fitzmartin.com/podcast/the-value-triad-episode-6/) ![](https://blog.fitzmartin.com/hubfs/podcast_lukeallen_featured.jpg) [Good Company Culture Will Improve Your Sales Force](https://blog.fitzmartin.com/podcast/good-company-culture-will-improve-your-sales-force/) View More Articles Are you ready to build something together? [ Get In Touch ](https://www.fitzmartin.com/contact) In case you missed it. [![FM - Logo Horizontal (1)](https://blog.fitzmartin.com/hs-fs/hubfs/FM%20-%20Logo%20Horizontal%20(1).png?width=160&height=42&name=FM%20-%20Logo%20Horizontal%20(1).png "FM - Logo Horizontal (1)")](https://www.fitzmartin.com/blog) © 2026 FITZMARTIN. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@type" : "BlogPosting", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "Admin", "url" : "https://blog.fitzmartin.com/podcast/author/admin" }, "dateModified" : "2025-01-02T19:03:10.418Z", "datePublished" : "2025-01-02T19:03:10.000Z", "headline" : "Environment Management: Using Gift-Giving to Build Relationships", "image" : [ "https://blog.fitzmartin.com/hubfs/podcast_donaldkelly_featured.jpg" ], "mainEntityOfPage" : { "@id" : "https://blog.fitzmartin.com/podcast/environment-management-using-gift-giving-to-build-relationships", "@type" : "WebPage" }, "publisher" : { "@type" : "Organization", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "url" : "https://blog.fitzmartin.com/hubfs/Fitz-Logo-horiz-new-400px.png" }, "name" : "FitzMartin" } } ```