We seem to have a love-hate relationship with greeting cards, especially when used for business purposes.
We know we SHOULD be sending out those “handwritten notes” that referral and sales experts say are vital to our success. We know we SHOULD stay in touch more regularly, and more personally, with clients and prospects – with anyone who’s important to our company’s success. We know we SHOULD use greeting cards – because they’re more likely to be opened than any other form of direct mail.
So why don’t we send more greeting cards?
I think it’s because of the hassle factor. It’s a PAIN to send ’em! You have to expend the time, energy and gasoline to go to a greeting card store, pick out the funny-but-not-sexist birthday card for Emily and the tastefully-polite card for Mr. Bigwig, buy stamps, take the cards back to your office and find the address info, figure out what to write on the card, write it, then stuff, stamp and mail the card. Whew!
No wonder there are so many offices with dusty greeting cards at the back of some forgotten drawer.
It doesn’t have to be that way – all it takes is a little time and effort, ONCE, to set up a place and a system to make it easier to do.
Order company greeting cards – go completely generic if you want, or order a batch of cards with different messages – “Thanks for the Referral”, “Nice to Meet You”, “Congratulations” et cetera.
Pick someplace to store the cards – and ALSO store stamps, a couple of pens, address labels or a self-inking stamp, a phone book or address list – and anything else you might often tuck into a greeting card, such as business cards.
You can even find suggested wordings for business greetings online and in books – if your problem is finding something to say, print out some of those suggestions and put it in the drawer, too.
If you identify what’s stopping you from sending greeting cards now, and make it easier to do so in the future, you’ll FINALLY be able to reap the rewards.
