Omiyage: The Gift That Comes Back

It was 5pm on a Friday, and I was hesitating over whether to call a customer for a follow-up.

Besides 5pm on a Friday not being the best timing for any work call, what really held me back was the lack of an omiyage. Omiyage literally means the small gift you bring back for others after a trip — a quiet way of showing you thought of them. In a business sense, it’s whatever you bring to a customer that makes their time with you worthwhile.

My mentor has emphasized this idea several times, and it has stuck with me since:

“Reaching out to a customer to pitch or to learn something is fine — as long as you have an omiyage to bring. For every meeting or call, you should be able to answer: what’s in it for the customer to spend this much time with you? If you keep having calls where you can’t answer that, you won’t be welcome for long.”

The meeting had been two days earlier, and I’d just managed to send out a follow-up email. But I didn’t have a clear picture of what my omiyage should be for this particular call.

So after ten minutes of going back and forth, I decided I’d call the following week — once I had a concrete one in hand.

And just then, my phone rang.

To my surprise, it was the manager of the very person I’d just talked myself out of reaching out to. Without any asking or prompting, I got a full update on the exact topic I’d wanted to raise — plus a few insights I hadn’t expected.

Luck, yes. But from the tone and the content, I could tell the omiyages I’d brought in the past had been worth something to this customer.

It reminded me that omiyage isn’t really about any single call. It’s a balance you build quietly over time — and every so often, it pays you back when you least expect it.