When you love something, you’re usually more prone to share it as a gift. For those into reading, books are one such type of gift. You love a book, then you should buy a few copies and give them away as gifts. In fact, I know business leaders that do this regularly with their most inspiring business books. Doing this does several things:

1. It lets people know you care. It’s a great rapport-building tool, letting people know that you were thinking of them in a way that is more than just a simple holiday greeting card.
2. It keeps you top of mind with clients and potential clients. If people see the book you gave them on their bookshelf, they are much more apt to remember you. If they actually read it, that likelihood increases tenfold.
3. A book giveaway provides you with a conversation topic for the next meeting. Instead of trying to take notes on their child’s favorite sports team (which you should probably do anyway), it is easier to simply ask, “so, what did you think of [fill in the name of the gifted book here]?”

I have found a similar phenomena to be true as it relates to gifting a safety razor as a business gift– to both men and women. It has many of the same business and personal benefits of other gifts. It is not only a very personal item that, if used, elicits a reaction and remembrance toward the giver from the receiver every time it is used, it is also a way to further expand and increase understanding of the world of wet shaving.

I have given away dozens (perhaps even hundreds) of high quality safety razors, blades, brushes and soaps over the last several years, inviting both men and women to try their hand at classic shaving technique. In doing so, I have had more than a 50% conversion rate to the craft, bringing literally dozens of users into the fold of shaving with a safety razor.

Yes, there is a cost to this and it’s not the same as sending a business card to your top 100 or 200 clients during the holidays. But if you spend $30 per user on your top 20 or 30 accounts each year, along with instructions on getting them up-to-speed on safety razor shaving techniques, the world will be all the better for it. I have done so for both men and women, even giving the women instructions on shaving their legs with a safety razor. When they truly “get the hang of it,” they are more inclined to use them as well, particularly when they understand that shaving with a safety razor is better for the environment.

So, pay it forward, give the gift of a safety razor. It’s a big part of maintaining and growing industry awareness around wet shaving.