Robyn Freedman Spizman, author of Make It Memorable: An A-to-Z Guide to Making Any Event, Gift, or Occasion Dazzling, suggests giving gifts that combine recommendations for places to eat or shop with an actual gift. So if, for example, you went to a restaurant that you think a business associate would enjoy, you could send him or her the maître d’s card and arrange with the restaurant to have a particular bottle of wine waiting at their table on the day or night of their reservation.

Such gifts “make recipients feel special rather than obligated to return a gift,” which is key in holiday business gift giving, Spizman says. “You can just say, ‘I went to this fabulous restaurant; it’s hard to get a reservation, so listen, I let the maître d’ know you’ll be calling.’” Such a personal gift—whether for clients, superiors, or subordinates—“lets people know that you care about them as a person because you know what they like to eat or where they like to shop,” says Spizman.

In general, Crews advises executive gift givers to think about what a gift is trying to convey, set a budget that will appear neither cheap nor extravagant, and choose gifts that will avoid appearances of favoritism or conflicts of interest. Once they find the right gift, Crews counsels clients on a graceful way to present it, instead of what she calls the typical “blush and thrust” delivery, which comes from a “fundamental reticence” many have with giving gifts, she says. Rather, one should give the gift with ease and confidence, and never apologize that it’s really nothing or just something you picked up, says Crews.

As for gifts given en masse by companies, Crews says high-tech gadgets are “certainly of the moment,” and she often recommends iPod accoutrements like high-end ear-buds, noise-cancellation headphones, or docking stations with speakers. While uninspired, pens are always a safe bet, as are leather portfolios and laptop bags—although leather gifts are no-no’s for associates in a place like India, where cows are revered. As for inscribing company logos on such holiday gifts, the experts say that’s verboten.

“When you stick a logo on something, it’s not a gift—it becomes a promotional item and so it doesn’t say anything about the relationship,” says Klinkenberg. “With a gift, the investment is in the relationship, not necessarily in constantly reminding people of your existence.”

Richard F. Beltramini, a marketing professor at Wayne State University, has examined how giving holiday gifts to clients affects sales. In one yuletide-season experiment, Beltramini had a large manufacturer send one group of customers a gold scissors-and-letter-opener set valued at $40, another group the same set in silver valued at $20, and a third group nothing at all. Six months later, sales volume for the gold group had the most dramatic increase, followed by the silver group, while sales for the giftless group actually dropped.

“Gift giving alone cannot create a business relationship,” Beltramini writes in an email. “If done right, it can build and maintain solid business relationships. If done wrong, it can cause embarrassment or even boomerang negatively.”

While his research shows that gift giving can be part of an effective marketing strategy, Beltramini says he personally still takes pleasure in the simple act of gifting.

“Believe it or not, some of us simply enjoy gift giving without ulterior motives,” he says.