Business Christmas Cards: Small Investments with Big Rewards

In a world increasingly overloaded with choices, decisions, offers, and in-your-face advertising, I’m more likely to conduct my business with people and companies that give me a good feeling, as well as a good deal. Business Christmas cards are a great example of a little thing going a long way in value, and not just where your wallet is concerned!

Competitive offers so often seem to be six-of-one and a-half-dozen of another. But, if one of those offers is always accessorized with a smile on the face and in the tone of voice, my choice is not random. I prefer to choose the “good attitude” in both my business and personal life.

When I receive a beautiful Christmas Holiday card from a business associate, it’s an example of his good attitude toward me, and it’s a pause in my day that makes me smile. So, I figure, when I send a business Christmas card to my business associates, I’m extending that same good attitude toward them. I hope I’m also prompting them to choose me over my competition every time they can use my services!

While we’re on the subject, it’s good to remember that co-workers and employees can make or break your whole performance. If you’re successful and happy in your work, you probably already greet these individuals with a smile, no matter how your personal day is going. Sending them a business Christmas card at holiday time is another one of those extra little gestures that means a lot to the relationships you have on the job.

It amazes me that some businesses will spend a small fortune on media ads, but then pinch pennies when it comes to small, personal and meaningful gestures that really get my attention. I’ve resolved to do better than that; my business Christmas card mailing list grows every year… and so does my business!

Personal Greeting Cards: Why technology and keepsakes don’t mix

If you would have told me even ten years ago that I’d do most of my correspondence via my computer, I wouldn’t have believed you. First of all, as a sophomore in college, I hadn’t yet purchased my own computer (although I was spending plenty of time in the computer labs, working my way through this new-fangled thing called the Internet!). Secondly, I was a proud pen paller, writing friends all over the country and all over the world.

Suddenly, stationery and stamps went the way of horse and buggy. I was getting emails from my pen pal in Norway and instant messages from my best friend in Michigan. Flash forward a decade, and now I’m looking to increase my monthly text messaging plan on my phone. While I love all the things technology has resulted in, I’m not so crazy about the immediacy and disposability of these new and wide-used ways of communication.

Call me old-fashioned, but I still like the feel of an envelope in my hand and the sound of paper ripping as I open it to see what’s inside. I’m much more likely to remember a card you sent me – for any occasion – than one of a string of emails you sent me last week just to chat. Better yet, I can pull it out a month from now, a year from now, or even ten years for now to reminisce. Who saves their email that long? Who has the time to sift through an inbox?

When I was considering living on campus my first semester in college, my father gave me a greeting card. Not a man of many words, he’d picked a blank, all-purpose card and copied down lyrics to a song that conveyed how he was feeling. As he handed me the card, he gave me a hug and I could see tears in his eyes.

Try conveying that via an electronic message.