How To Make Your Own Trophy

Customize your own financial tombstone to make sure that it reflects the size of your transaction. You want something unique and together, we can create it.

How to Make Your Own Financial Tombstone Award

The above is a question we get almost every day. And of course, we do, we’re the experts! So, you’ve come to the right place. Here, let’s break down a financial tombstone template to discuss all the things you need to think about. If you’re asking yourself: “If I make my own trophy, what do I need?” then keep on reading.  

Your Financial Tombstone Template.  

It all starts with a little preparation on your end. No worries, at this point you can put as little or as much thought as you are comfortable with here. While the below are important for our artists to know, they are also important for you to keep in mind so you have some expectations or ideas as to what you’re looking to see in those first initial 3 designs we’ll be sending your way.  

To Customize Your Own Deal Toy, You’ll Need:  

Theme or Design Ideas:

• this will help gear our artists in the right direction and give them somewhere to start. For example, if it’s a deal for a new app or a company, you might want to focus on their logo. If you’ve got a deal with pharmaceuticals, for example, you might stick to a medical theme.  

Deal Text or Press Release:

• while this is not completely necessary, it is important for you to think about. We understand some deals might be confidential at the time of starting the deal toy process. But if you could share with us a logo or what type of deal, we’ll know how much surface area to leave for your deal text. 

If confidential:

• just let us know and we will watermark all the designs. This way they won’t go to anyone but you or be used in our marketing materials.  

Colors:

• colors can be used on many areas of the deal toy. Let us know if there are certain color schemes you’d like to follow. 

Classic or Creative:

• are you looking for something more on the traditional side or maybe looking to see a new geometric shape? Two very different styles.  

Budget:

• this is probably the most important. You’ll want to have a number in mind when opening a deal toy project so that we know how to design. If you’re not sure, look at any past projects and see what number you fell at then. If you have a ballpark, we can start with a lesser budget; it’s easier to add onto a design than to take away from a design.  

These above bullets are a small breakdown of your beginning thought process. This should help you gather enough information to help our artists get started with a few ideas that will exceed your expectations, all while sticking to you your desired wants.  

Other Important Questions from Your Deal Toy Company 

While the above will certainly help our artists get the ball rolling, there is a lot more that goes into creating your deal toy from start to finish. We can see the above as step 1. These are the mental notes you would essentially gather amongst the team and then take those thoughts and decisions to your deal toy provider, either over the phone or via email.

After getting on the phone with your custom financial tombstone design ideas, your sales representative will want to know the following:  

Number of Units:

• this is important to know because the process for 5 pieces versus the process for 100 pieces would be a bit different and your deal toy company is looking to give you an accurate timeline.  

Closing or Dinner Date:

• believe it or not, this also has a lot to do with your design. We always want to make sure that you have more than enough time on your schedule before the closing dinner is scheduled. But if you want a crystal 3D molded figurine of a whale with a baseball cap on, and your closing dinner in 2 weeks, that will not be enough time. Knowing the date from the get-go will help to create the best designs from the start.  

Shipping:

• will these pieces be shipping individually? To your office or to the event space? They can go directly to where you’re hosting the closing dinner.

Please also keep in mind that it is okay if you don’t have the answers to all the above points. These are just starting points to work towards your greatest deal toy. Our team will ask and discuss some options with you if you are just not quite sure about the answers.  

A Real-Life Example of Having Your Financial Tombstone Template Ready.  

Now that we’ve gone over some small details on what you’ll be discussing with your designated Altrum representative, let’s put this into a real-world example, kind of.  

Picture this: your team has closed a deal with a company that works with renewable energy/materials. What better way to showcase their brand and company than to include some renewable materials on the deal toy itself. As for the project name, you have decided on Project Wind (for fun, check out the decade’s most popular deal codes). for this one and are ready to get your deal toy representative on the phone. One of two situations could occur: 

Your closing dinner has been booked for 3 months from today. 

You’ve got your Altrum sales representative on the phone and you start breaking down the deal for them. You’re looking for a non-traditional deal toy that incorporates the project code: Project Wind. Upon telling them your budget and the timeline for this project they will go ahead and give you a few custom financial tombstone ideas and see what you think. Most importantly, you want this deal toy to be environmentally sound. They give you one idea that really speaks to you. 

 As a team, you come up with the idea to showcase a 3D windmill with your client’s logo printed on the base. You specifically want this to sit at 8 inches tall, as you want it to stand tall. This was a pretty big deal for you and the team. The Altrum team will look into a unique way to showcase that 3D windmill (a few options include outsourcing, 3D printing, etc) and make sure all aspects and details you were looking for are included in your deal toy.  

Your closing dinner is 3 weeks from today.  

The conversation will go the same: you’ll break down the fact that you’re looking to incorporate Project Wind into the designs and that sustainable materials are important to you, but your closing dinner is just shy of 3 weeks from today and you’re looking for a more cost-efficient option than you went with for your last order and that’s all you know. Done and done!  

We can have our artists create a beautifully detailed windmill that can be etched on a wood rectangle on a base. This will give your piece texture and make it stand out from the rest! Using wood or acrylic, which can be recycled to use for different products, is a great way to decrease your environmental footprint. 

And there you have it. The same deal with different variables. In the first, you were vocal and sat on the phone with your representative to brainstorm ideas together. You did not have a strict budget and no upcoming deadline. In the latter, you have a bit of a time crunch so our creative capabilities are a little held back, but that’s not a problem since you also wanted something a little more classic for this one.  

For some fun, our team put together some incredible Earth Day designs

Given the above example and to celebrate Earth Day 2020, our talented team came up with a few designs that not only incorporate Earth Day but use 100% recycled materials. If this is something that interests you, please let us know and we can get you designs that are not only showstopping but lessen the environmental footprint of ordering deal toys.

As you can see, it’s easy to be hands-on or hands-off in customizing your tombstone trophy. 

We’ve got a team in place ready to handle whichever of the above people you are. Either way, each project will have the same bones essentially. From there, it is our job and our passion to put together some winning options and pick the proper material for your deal toys to show off to your team. As always, for the first round, we provide you with 3 initial design ideas. If those are not to your liking, not a problem! It’s back to the drawing board.  

But as you can already tell, communication is KEY. Let us know what you like and what you don’t like. Let us know what you see around the office so you know your MD or deal team will like it as well. Our job is to make sure not only you are happy but your team and clients, upon being gifted their deal toy, are also happy. We want our brand and product to be able to showcase how hard you worked and celebrated all of your accomplishments.  

If you have any ideas in your head, please feel free to reach out. Our team of artists is on call and ready to draft up a design only you can dream up with Altrum. We’ll talk with you soon!