The Value of Convenience

Why should you buy gifts prepared by us when you’ve been picking out gifts ever since you first had pocket money? We wouldn’t raise the question if we didn’t have a darn good answer (several of them, actually), so read on!

Does DIY-ing really save your property time and money?

Gifts from Can You Imagine save your property money, provide expertise, and deliver consistency and continuity across your entire brand portfolio.

Turn the clock back to your Economics 101 class, when you studied the concept of “false economy.” You remember that’s where something appears to be cheaper in the short term but actually costs more in the long run.

Now, suppose you’ve decided to go the do-it-yourself route with, say, your welcome gifts for new residents. You, or a subordinate, either have to leave the property to shop for items or spend time shopping on the internet. We don’t need to remind you that employee time is expensive. What products should you buy? Try-it-and-see can get expensive – and remember you’re paying retail. At Can You Imagine, our staff handles – and in the case of edibles, taste tests – every product and approves it before it gets added to our inventory. How much to buy? That’s a tricky question when it comes to the shelf life of snacks. At CYI, we deal with enough volume that you can always count on our recommended six-week “use by” date for any food gift. Plus, you need storage space to buy enough to get a quantity discount, and space is usually at a premium – but not a problem with our warehouse and reliable, speedy shipping. Oh, and factor in more staff time to assemble your DIY gifts.

Next, consider uniformity. New residents in a community talk with one another. If they compare their welcome gifts, does the comparison hold up? Or will one resident suddenly feel less welcome than the other if their gift isn’t as nice?

The year 2020 showed us that the supply chain can get disrupted, so are you sure you will have a steady supply of new products for your DIY gifts? Our supply chain is solid, based on more than a quarter-century in business, and even at the height of the pandemic, it held up remarkably well – in fact, our offices temporarily resembled a warehouse for toilet paper and paper towels when store shelves for those products were vacant!

And finally, when you present your gift, how does it look? No matter how talented your leasing agents may be at wrapping the family Christmas presents, their final product will never measure up to our gifts, where packaging is designed by professional artists and gifts are assembled start to finish by a single gift maker who understands that appearance is as important as content.

When you buy your gifts from Can You Imagine, you are buying far more than convenience – although never sell convenience short when faced with the challenges of operating a modern residential community. You also are essentially buying our storage space, our purchasing expertise and volume efficiency, our professional designers, and 26 years of experience in an industry in which we were the pioneers.

Resident satisfaction – and its twin, resident retention – is well worth that investment.