Do you send Christmas Cards to Clients?

Sending flowers,gifts on special occasions is a way to let your customers know that it's not the business alone which connects you.It gives a feeling to clients that they matter and are important to you.These small gestures go a long way in building trust,respect amongst each other and more importantly earning goodwill.

Business or no business,I make sure that i send greetings to all my previous/present clients and the persons whom i know on the eve of New year without fail. More than anything else,it feels good to connect with people whom you knew/know on important occasions.

Well, sending greetings on special occassions is becoming a trend because of the competative world. After all every one wants to be get noticed.

Justin- I have always sent cards to my clients, the hardest part is hand addresses and hand signing. The reason I do this is because when I get cards with the address typed and no signature or just a typed greeting from the person or the company. My sense is I got the card because they were sending a bunch out and I was on the list, it wasn't something from the heart let alone thought about.

Justin,

The Indian national calendar (sometimes called Saka calendar) is the official civil calendar in use in India. It is used, alongside the Gregorian calendar and starts on 21st March. However thats official. In practice everybody by default follows US/European New Year coz thats universally followed and is much easier to adopt and use.

My practice of sending new year cards have been very rewarding in terms of goodwill and from business of point of view as well.However i must add that i never send greeting cards to my clients purely from business point of view instead it feels nice to connect with people whom you know or have been associated with...

-Anita CM

I agree with Stephen. I don't send anything out to anyone I know personally that is not personalized by me. I believe it's so important in this computerized society that I send out notes, gifts, etc.. that is special to each client or collegue and most importantly family and friends. I am NEVER too busy to let people in my life know how important they are to me.

I used to do Send Out Cards. A great concept. The feedback I got from almost all of the people I know who received SOC, was that it was too impersonal, they felt like it was a group mail.

Answer: Yes, I do send out personal, hand-written notes in Christmas Cards each year.

Mary :>)

P.S. Check out my holiday packages on my promotions section!

I send out a personal card to clients and vendors after the first of the year - thanking them for their business or service in the past year, and wishing them the best for the new year. With clients of a wide variety of religious affiliations, the non-Christmas specific cards avoid possibly offending anyone - and they don't get lost in the large amount of holiday/end-of-the-year mail.

I send out a PERSONAL card to clients at the beginning of December and I include what some folks call an "ITEM OF VALUE". For example, for you Justin it might be 5% off an arrangement during the month of December. In my organizing business I send out a sheet of mailing address labels wih their info because I figure if they send out holiday cards they can always use them, or at the very least use them on envelopes to pay bills.

Like Jeff I am very careful to try and avoid possibly offending anyone who is not affiliated with Christmas.

Elizabeth that's the reason i prefer sending personalized cards only on New Year eve. Don't have to worry about offending somebody's religious affiliations/beliefs. I guess almost everybody prefers to associate themselves with new year celebrations...

Not to be a grouch or anything, but when the "holiday" cards--whatever their timing--come into our office, they go straight-away into the recycling. Sometimes we don't even open them. It's just so much paper, and then where do we put them. So much stuff!

Anita, I got into the habit of sending a card at the beginning of the "holiday" season back when I was in commercial real estate, and I guess it just stuck.

I do have to say howver that every year I do question whether or not I want to send a card at all. Papers cards are such a waste of paper and although there are plenty of options of cards made from recyclable paper.... still I feel perhaps there must be other nominal ways to thank clients for their business throughout the year.

What are other folks thoughts about this?

Elizabeth i guess i went green long back by default courtesy the nature of my business which is virtual. My new year greetings are in form of personalized emails to all those who matter to me...

I tend to send general holiday greeting cards sometime around Thanksgiving...Universal types of cards often available with many international non-profit agencies.

Gift items that are personalized also work well, if they are practical. Calendars are a good example (especially with the large block individual days, allowing appointment entries, reminders, etc.).

For the reason, Leila mentioned, I have chosen not to send out a mass of holiday cards once a year when people are getting bombarded with them, but instead send hand written notes at times when a 'thank you' is appropriate.

I ordered some special letter press stationary with the Biznik logo for these occasions.

I love receiving handwritten notes myself. When I've taken the time to meet with someone or have done a special favor, receiving a note card in the mail shows me that the person appreciated the time I took to meet with them, by taking the time to write a note, dig out a stamp, and look up my address.

Hmmm...This is something we are really struggling with this year. As a nonprofit, we have a pretty small budget for holiday cards, yet I find that the personal touch really helps folks keep BuildingBlocks in mind.

Has anyone considered a unique, fun, quirky e-card that is specialized to the business. Probably out of our budget, but also better for the environment...

As folks here have commented, "greetings" become meaningless in bulk (and meaningful when truly personal). And "parties", can become an obligatory appearance when scheduled at the year's end, a time that is already packed with so many time-consuming activities and chores.

To take the time out of my life to go to "parties" in Nov, Dec, and Jan, they truly need to be traditional or they need to be spectacular. I.e., unless I can frame an event in those frameworks, I won't be expecting clients or vendors to take time to come (and receive my "thanks" for their support/business).

Justin, if you can figure out a way to modernize the "holiday traditions", you'll really have something! (I mean that.)

Hi Justin, it seems like one of your concerns about sending cards is that it will go unnoticed. Up until now, businesses did not have much choice when it came to greeting cards. I saw the need for a more personalized and meaningful type of greeting card. I am the creator of a new type of greeting card for businesses, called the Business Video Greeting Card. You can strengthen your business relationships in a lively and entertaining way this holiday season. Your customers will truly feel that they matter to your business. These cards have the WOW factor!

I've sent personalized hand-written cards in the past. However, during the down time in mid to late December, I'll be writing letters and shipping a custom-designed calendar to my clients, associates and suppliers. I've find that I like receiving a creative calendar. I'll get a longer viewing time than a holiday card. A combination of personal recognition for the recipient and me.

No. Too commercial, too wasteful. Yep, they work; and yep I even like getting some of them. The work they entail with it's associated stress for the people involved usually isn't a fair trade for many people much of the time... although it can be good for business (and I'm talking about businesses like mine:-).

One of the most memorable business cards I received during the winter holidays was a card informing me that the business had made a donation to Habitat for Humanity in my name. The fact that it came from a real estate agent was nice - she was not only taking care of me as a potential source of income again in the future, but also giving back to the community at large. I was glad not to have to find a place for a mug, calendar, CD of seasonal music, or whatever. It didn't require me to respond. It reached out and made a difference in someone else's life and really made that agent stand out in my mind - she shared my values of helping others and I was happy to share her name with others who were needing real estate services.

Hi Justin,

Yes, you can view a sample of a Virtual Business Video Greeting Card on the home page (businessvideogreetings.com). These cards are extremely flexible, afterall you know your customers better than anyone else. Cards can be personalized to meet your needs.