Author: Lisette B.

Greeting Cards Highlights – Business Photo Cards

As the one who is in charge of ordering our cards every year, I am always challenged at to what card I choose to order. It’s not that I can’t find one I like, but quite the opposite. I find too many that I like. Therefore, it is always hard to make the final decision. I finally nailed it down to 5 designs.

Glowing Holiday Forest Card is a glossy photo of snow covered trees, set on a dark mate background.  Twinkling lights adorn the snow covered branches that gently illuminate the forest.

Lights and Bows Card has a gold embossed stamped border framing a mounted photo. This Christmas tree and holly boughs remind me of holidays of years gone by. Warm and festive, bringing thoughts of gathering family and friends close.

Christmas Welcome Wreath Card is a cream matte embossed with gold. This frames a mounted photo of a wreath adorned door. This to me declares, “Welcome – I wish you Peace and Joy!

New York City, Tribute in Light Christmas Card is a photo mounted on a white matte card stock that will forever remind me of 9/11. Not only the horror, but of the extreme acts of courage and heroism that will be etched in our hearts and minds for the rest of our lives. This beautiful tribute in lights that depict the twin towers is a befitting memorial to all the lives lost and to remind us all that some things are never to be forgotten.

What To Serve At An Office Christmas Party

For the first time, I have been put in charge of this year’s holiday festivities. So the big question is – What to serve at an office Christmas party? I’ve honestly not given it much thought before. I usually just show up and the food is there. Isn’t it funny how we think that this just magically happens?

Serve_Office_Christmas_Party

As I started my planning, I was thinking that I want it to be fun and festive. However, I don’t want it to become overly complicated. With that in mind, I began to research my options. I came up with the following ideas:

  1. Foods that can be kept warm in chafing dishes. Baked ziti, chicken marsala, sausage with peppers, etc.
  2. Tossed salad (I would only offer a few different dressing types)
  3. Rolls (splurge for the individual butter portions, if budget allows)
  4. Easy to eat treats for dessert, such as cookies and brownies.
  5. Bottled water, coffee & tea

You can also go potluck, and ask your fellow employees if they would like to contribute. Post a sign up sheet so people can sign up and enter what they would like to bring. Otherwise you may wind up with multiples of the same thing. This will allow your fellow employees the chance to participate while showing of their favorite holiday specialty!

Choosing Christmas Cards for Business or Pleasure

Whether choosing Christmas cards for business or pleasure the process usually takes a lot of time. Should we choose what we like or choose what we consider to be safe? It can’t have a Santa, or a tree or a bell. It can’t say Merry Christmas. Do we always have to be politically correct?

Christmas Tree Radiance Card

It seems that we spend so much time making sure that we don’t offend anybody, that we forget the reason why we send Christmas cards in the first place. I have friends and business acquaintances from all different religions and backgrounds. I have received Christmas cards from many of them. Some say Merry Christmas, others says Season’s Greetings. I’ve have also received cards that say Happy Hanukah and Happy Kwanza. I can honestly say that I have never felt offended by any of them. If you want to send me holiday greetings, I will accept them graciously. I will be grateful that you took the time to think of me.

I choose my holiday cards by what speaks to me. Something that makes me smile and often brings me back to a place of my childhood. So if you receive a Christmas card from me that depicts a tree covered in lights and says Merry Christmas, please do not take offense. I mean no harm. What I am really saying is enjoy your holidays, no matter how you celebrate them. I send you love, laughter, peace and joy!

How to Increase Sales with Christmas Cards

Owning a small business means that I have to make sure that all my choice make sense. Every purchase I make has to be carefully thought out. Is the purchase necessary? Do I need the item? Does the benefit of this purchase outweigh the cost? What about advertising? Do I advertise and if so, how do I get the most bang for my buck? Should I send out holiday cards this year? I really enjoy sending out cards during the holiday season. Ugh!

Gold Star Christmas Card

 

So I got to thinking! I really want to advertise my business and wondered how to increase my sales with Christmas cards. After careful consideration, I determined that I could do both. After all, I display all of the holiday cards I receive. I look forward to hanging them on the wall and am always grateful that someone took the time to add me to their list of recipients. With this in mind, I started an online search. One of the first sites that came up was The Gallery Collection. After checking out all the beautiful Christmas cards that they offered, I settled on a calendar card. It depicts wonderful, seasonal images. To this, I added a heartfelt thank you, as well as my company information. I can’t think of a more cost affective way to advertise my business all year long. Money well spent for sure!

Team Building in the Workplace

Team building in the workplace needs to be a part of every company’s list of important items that should be implemented. The goal in each company is to be productive and to generate revenue. While it is important to have a great product and/or service, it is also important to have happy and content employees. Team building activities help to boost morale. They also improve communication and productivity. It can be a great motivator.

Team_Building

Team building activities for work can be simple or a bit more involved. Here are just a few suggestions:

1. Plan a field trip. One company I worked for planned a trip to the local bowling alley. It was a great way to get to know each other without the pressure of work and deadlines. Lots of fun and laughs.

2. Work together for a good cause. Facilitate a volunteer outing. A Spring clean-up of a park, for instance. Ask your employees for suggestions.

3. Have a baking contest. The employees could show off their baking skills, while the non bakers could be the tasting judges.

4. Brain teasers and riddles that require team participation.

5. Problem solving activities, such as a puzzle that would require team effort to complete.

These are just a few. There are many online resources that can provide many more ideas. Check it out and have fun!

Thank You Cards Are Not Passé

I have a pet peeve. I really get annoyed when I go to a store to make a purchase and the clerk acts like I’m not even there! No eye contact. No “how are you today?” Not even a thank you. It really leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I’m also not fond of not receiving thank you cards. Is it too much to ask? Has saying thank you become passé?

Thank You Cards

Don’t get me wrong. There are plenty of people that haven’t forgotten the old ways. I do run into people that say thank you and I do get thank you cards from some. But all too often we take manners for granted and do not realize the importance they hold in our lives.

Being in customer service, I am on the phone and interacting with our customers daily. In order to assure them that I appreciate their order and the opportunity to serve them, I must convey with my voice. I do this by smiling and being helpful. No, it can’t be seen, but they can hear in my voice that I truly care. When I am dealing with an individual on a more personal level, I convey my thanks not only in person, when I can, but I follow it up with a thank you card.

Whenever I purchase my all occasion cards, I make sure that they include thank you cards. When the occasion arises, I have it at the ready. Whether in business or personally, and under appreciated person is an unhappy person. Either way, it’s a recipe for disaster. I don’t want to be the person responsible for that!

Christmas Cards – Something Worth Sending

To send Christmas Cards or not to send Christmas Cards. That is the question. Does it make sense to purchase holiday cards? Does it matter if we send them to our customers? Do we really need the extra expense at this time?

Christmas Cards

Owning a small trucking company has many challenges. In a time when everyone is cutting back on expenses, it seems one is cutting cost wherever one can. This means that companies will give a load to the trucking company that bids the lowest, even if it is only a few dollars difference. It is a fine dance trying to decide how low we can go in our charges, but still make a profit. It’s every man (or trucking company) for themselves. Everything takes careful and meticulous thought and planning.

Because we must plan for each expenditure we make, each year when the holidays approach, we sit down and weigh the pros and cons of sending business Christmas cards. Each year we decide that it is indeed worth the money spent. Because we want to keep our name out there, we decided that it is well worth the small amount spent on each holiday card we purchase and send. We look at it as an investment. A low cost form of advertisement. It is a way to say thank you for considering us. We may not have got your business the last time, but we sure hope to get it the next time.

Birthday Cards – Can’t Get Any Easier Than That

I am in charge of sending out our employee birthday cards every month. I try to make my list early in the year and file my list by month. I add to this as needed. Each month I try to corral the managers and supervisors and have each one of them sign each card personally. It isn’t always easy though. It seems like someone is always out of the office when I need them. I was thinking that there must be an easier way.

Birthday Cards

There was also the inconvenience of purchasing the cards and I was having a hard time finding what I wanted at the store, not to mention that it was becoming quite costly. I decided to search the web for a supplier of corporate birthday cards. So I went online and came across The Gallery Collection. There were over 100 birthday designs to choose from. The prices were very reasonable and after looking through all the choices, I finally decided to request a few samples. They were all beautiful, but after much consideration, we decided on two designs. On one set I had our company name imprinted below the greeting. On the other, I decided to have our signatures imprinted, as well. This way we can hand sign and personalize the cards we want. The second design I will use when I just can’t get everyone together to sign. The signatures will already be there. It can’t get much easier than this.

Bulk Birthday Cards Make Sense

Purchasing bulk birthday cards makes all the sense in the world. It is an economical way to have a birthday card at the ready, whenever the occasion arrives. Buying in bulk usually results in the unit price per card being lower. As we know, a good quality card can run up to well over $4.00 each and in some cases more. Add to that the cost to go get them and the aggravation and time taken away from other important things, the savings can be quite high. Not to mention the irritation when you discover that you do not have birthday cards at your disposal when you need them.

Bulk Birthday Cards

Whether you send to your employees or your customers, it will be appreciated. Who doesn’t love to receive an acknowledgement on their special day? It’s a small token, but an extremely important one.

If you are concerned that all of the birthday cards will be the same, I would recommend that you consider purchasing at least two designs. There are so many birthday designs to choose from that it will be easy to find a design for both the ladies and the gents on your list. The hardest part will be choosing among all the beautiful designs available.