Greeting cards all year round?
Happy Birthday!
Happy Thanksgiving!
Happy Valentines Day!
Has Hallmark already triggered in your mind?
Why is that? Nostalgic memories? Is it browsing that aisle every season?
Do you just like sparkles and cards that pop up and sing?
Or is there something extra special about a greeting card with a thoughtful note that says, “I’m thinking about you, and you are important”
We communicate with dozens of methods and consume communication more than ever. “But what is the most effective?” you ask? I prefer to think more about – “what is impactful?”
Your mind has already jumped to Facebook, email, chat, text… but I challenge you to consider the post office. It’s been around since before the Declaration of Independence, sending letters to loved ones from coast to coast as industry and businesses have grown. It helped families and colleagues stay in touch. Now is it the most efficient? If you’re trying to confirm a dinner reservation for this evening at 7 pm, NO!
But is it more personal? YES!
Unfortunately, we spend less time writing out greeting cards by hand. But the beauty of those sparkles and pop-out cards is that they still engage the recipient. And besides being beautiful, the note that came directly from you is worth more than a gift card for free coffee.
Think about the last greeting card you received. I hope you’ve had at least one since your last birthday or holiday season. Because it is such an underutilized contact method, you can CAPITALIZE being effective with genuine action.
I still have birthday and holiday greeting cards that my grandmother sent me 20 years ago. I will always cherish them with my prized possessions.
I’m not promising you’ll get a $1,000,000 sale out of it, especially if you don’t build a genuine process. Science shows that when you do thoughtful actions of kindness towards others, it improves your mood and the recipient’s mood. I’ve received a calendar magnet in the mail from my bug guy, and guess what? I feel like he did it just for me, and then it goes on the fridge all year long. Or when a client sends me a note after a presentation I gave, I still have it.
A greeting card is a small token that can be enhanced or simplified to say “I haven’t forgotten,” and why do we wait all year until it’s someone’s birthday or the holidays at the end of the year? We are busy, we are distracted, so it needs to be intentional. And the best way to do that is to create a system. We developed one at VeraPax; in the weekly sales meeting, we check on any new clients or prospects and discuss if we have sent them a thank you note. Our fantastic Director of First Impressions hand writes them every week and sends them out.
It wasn’t immediate, but we have our custom-designed greeting cards ready, so it becomes a habit and flow of business every week. The less friction to do a task, the more likely you will follow through and DO IT every single time.
Let us know if this is a helpful idea that you would like to get started and how we can connect you with your clients on a more regular basis. Not just send a card because you feel like you have to. Send a card because YOU CARE about your clients.
Give us a call; we want to help spread a little bit more joy in the world with you!
(don’t you want to feel like Santa Claus once in a while?)