This week at The Price Group we kicked off our annual Secret Santa tradition. Like most things, we do it a little different here.

Instead of buying one gift and exchanging at the party, we spread it out over two weeks. We’re encouraged to get two gifts between now and the company Christmas dinner next week. There we’ll give a final gift and each guess who we think our Secret Santa is.

For me, the gift giving and government-like secrecy (not to mention all the great swag I get) are only part of the fun. Every year, I get the list from the person I drew of the things he or she likes, and every year I’m surprised.

It doesn’t matter if it’s someone I know well or not, there is always something on that list I didn’t know. I love this part because it lets me get to know the people I spend my days with in a fun way.

These little tidbits of knowledge would never come up in everyday business conversations. But because of this tradition, I get to find them out. Then at the dinner when everyone announces what they’ve been getting, we all learn those small facts about each other.

Of course that got me thinking about how it relates to what we do the rest of the year (yes, this post does have a point). We’re in the business of finding out those little interesting facts about our clients and sharing them with everyone else.

When we dig to get to know our clients and their companies, we discover things we didn’t know. Fascinating things. Valuable things. Things the client may not have even thought were important. But it’s who the client is, and that’s an important message to get to its audience.

Research is important as it lays the groundwork. But it’s when we really get to know our clients that the gifts start coming and the fun really begins.