Do you send cards to all of your customers or just your regulars?
Just wondering. there are a few clients I want to “stay top of mind” but others were very small jobs or have moved.
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I would send cards to everyone. Why not?
Holiday cards to everyone in the past year....regular clients...and those you know were going to need more work done in the future.
J. D. Reynolds
Home Improvements
I vote for everyone in the past year, plus good clients from previous years, even the PIA's that I hope never call back. And I include a short handwritten note in each one, not just my name. Cheapest form of advertising there is, plus it gives me something to do when it's 4 frikken degrees outside.
Dear Meg and Roger,
Thanks for your business in 2005. I wish you and your family a safe and happy holiday season.
Best Regards,
Red Hen
Took about 10 seconds plus a stamp!
I sent cards to the people who I built for this past year. I work for a company though - I am not self employed. I included the handwritten note, with a "thank you for your business", etc, but rather than signing my name, I just "signed" the name of my company. May sound kind of strange but I wanted them to feel that the company cared about them as customers. The homebuilding portion of the company is a one man show (guess who?) and I am the only company rep that several of these home buyers have met. I already gave them good service and they got a good product so no need to try to impress them personally.
whatever you do---ABSOLUTELY send 'em to every customer----even the smallest customers.
some of my best jobs have been referalls from REALLY small customers. some jobs end up being from a referalls,from a referall, from a referall-----and when you trace it back you discover that the first customer in that string of referalls is a customer 15 years ago that you did something rediculously small for.
BTW-- I send my cards out at thanksgiving NOT Xmas. There is a little handwritten note in each one---along the lines of--" Thank you for the privilege of working on your home. Please let me know if I can help you in any way in the future, thanks again Stephen Hazlett"
also BTW--- there are 2 reasons I don't send out xmas cards
1) Everybody else sends out Xmas cards----yours will not be noticed
2) I don't want to offend the wrong customer
This year I had 2 different customers named Zimmerman---- one lives nearby and is very Catholic---in fact got my name from my ad in our parish bulletin
the other---VERY Jewish---in fact gave me directions to his house based on the location of his Synagogue which was the best local landmark. I never previously associated Zimmerman as a Jewish surname as plenty of local catholics are named Zimmerman. Please note that Jewish customers are OUTSTANDING referalls generating enthusiastic referalls to family,friends, business associates etc.
Really the only thing I have found on an individual basis that rivals referalls from jewish families--are referalls from gay households--male or female---just really outstanding referalls.
Best wishes to you, Stephen
Kudos to you. One SMART post ya drafted there!DUM SPIRO SPERO: "While I breathe I hope"
I'm sending out "Happy Holiday" cards to all of my customers from last year. Some are jewish, many are christian, most I don't know.
Do you really think that my jewish customers might be offended if I sent them a card? How about if they know that I know that they're jewish?
-Don
Speaking as a Jewish person (but not speaking for *all* Jewish people), I'm not offended by Christmas cards, even from people who know I'm Jewish -- but I'm *impressed* by Chanukah cards (or cards at other Jewish holidays, especially the Jewish New Year).
Don,
I was raised in a Catholic household----but I don't consider myself a practicing Catholic-------
I don't really want christmas cards myself-------- but some people insist on sending 'em. I work primarily in one neighborhood---and maybe 90% of my customers are Catholic
Basically------- I want to keep religon out of the entire equation---------and if you are gonna keep religon out of a christmas card-----well what's the point?
I don't spend any effort trying to figure out what religon---if any-- my customers practice------- that's their personal business and none of my concern
Despite that------- I know for a fact I have done business with Catholics---and probably a dozen or more other christian sects, hindu,moslem, jews, some kind of "secular shinto, one Sikh and any number of buddhist--------
somebody in that mix is bound to be uneasy about a christmas card-------- even some christians will get bent if the card isn't "right"--to religous,/not reiligous enough--whatever.
Rebbecca might not be offended------ maybe she has a brother or a neighbor that would be.
Point is------ I don't want it to be an issue
so---- I send out a fairly generic autumnal card---roughly around thanksgiving------- Really mostly a " harvest " based theme--------- with a short handwritten thankyou note
Because I really DO want to thank them all---big and small----every one from the one hour service call up to the $16,000 roof replacement------ and I want to thank EACH of them with a short handwritten note--mailed in a hand addressed envelope
and---while I certainley want to do business with them in the future------- what I really want to do is thank THEM for what they have already done for ME
and I don't think a Christmas card---and a possible insult--is conducive to that >LOL
I can tell you--- that I have a supplier that I used to do most of my business with---------- that I no longer do hardly ANY business with----- in part because they send me OVERLY religous cards----and periodically I would get pro-life anti-abortion mailings from them that ( regaurdless of my personal position) I found to be wildly in-appropriate within our business relationship. It was a very solid family business that I HUGELY respected---in fact would go miles out of my way to buy from----------- but they have soooooomany family members working there, and they are sooooooo religous, and the whole arrangement sooooo insular that they have kind of lost their grip on what is appropriate in the larger society---just out of touch with the marketplace
Best wishes to YOU, 'though
Stephen
Thanks for the well thought out replies. Here one statement that's troubling me:
Basically------- I want to keep religon out of the entire equation---------and if you are gonna keep religon out of a christmas card-----well what's the point?
Well said. I think I can resolve it in my mind like this...
What's the point of Christmas cards in general? I mean we send them to people that we're going to see on Christmas, we send them to people we see almost every day, heck, sometimes we send them to people we hope we never have to see again.
It's a tradition. It's almost not even about religion anymore (an observation, not a position). I hope my customers read it this way: "Here's a shout out to ya cause I appreciate your business and I didn't know when else to send a card so I sent it around the holidays"
-Don
Everyone that spent money with us this year (102) gets a Christmas card and a Dan's Maintenance Key fob. Regulars from multiple years (44) get a pen. Vendors get a calender. I always give a decent pen (I hate a cheap one myself). The counter guys who I work with at the various supply houses get a variety of all of the above. Buys a lot of good will and does so with a minimum of cost. ($350) DanT
Good ideas, but it looks like I dropped the ball this year (doh!). I've been so busy that now its about 5 minutes to christmas and I didnt get any cards out.
I like the open and key fob thing though. I've considered things like that for year round promos.
I don't send cards to clients. The cost of the card and the postage has gone nuts over the years. Instead I save up my scrap of cool wood and make about 30 cutting boards a season and send them out to new customers. Yes the time spent and the postage exceeds the card thing by a landslide but the end result is they use the board every day and remember who you are. I have never been sorry doing this.
Riverman - I hope you have a nice branding iron and burn your name in, real nice and deep. That way they really remember.
Don K.
EJG Homes Renovations - New Construction - Rentals
"The cost of the card and the postage has gone nuts over the years."
While I think the cutting board idea is a great one let me ask this. Are you kidding me?! The most we have paid for christmas cards was 33 cents, postage is 37 cents so that is 60 cents each. Generally if we shop we can get them for closer to 23 cents each. So where is the gone nuts theory? DanT
LOL, I gotta justify this some how, ya know. I suppose you could shop around and find something reasonable to send out. I'm more the romantic, artsy, creative type and shopping is not my strong suit. Last I looked cards were in the $1 to $2 range and I can't see myself sending a client a $1 card after he just gave me a staircase for 20K to build so I tend to go overboard or rather cutting board. I'm not critizing anyone for doing the card thing, it's thoughtful and lets people know you think more of them than just another job. Maybe it's in the water, I just do it differently.
Mom gets a card thats it.
Cards sent out of a sense of propriety make me ill.
Christmas is a time for families. I was brought up in a christian household but I'm still midly offended when suppliers or clients that I hardly know socially send religious themed cards to me.
If you want to impress me send a donation to food bank in January or Feb. when donations are low.
I'll remember you if I see you volunteering at a soup kitchen or scouts or something.Regards Rik
artacoma,
I suspect that there are PLENTY of people who feel like you do------- which is why I try to avoid the whole issue.
Most people take the Xmas cards in stride---and accept that there is gonna be a certain degree of commercialization and " phoniness" inherent in the practice
Other people ,like you perhaps?---- are irritated by the practice to one degree or another---------- I suspect there are a suprising amount of people with your view-------- but they just kind of keep quiet about it-------- but they still remember.
Regaurding volunteering for a foodbank--------
a couple of winters ago I happened to talk here about how---since I had a lot of winter free time----I was volunteering at a food bank.------ you would be suprised by the borderline nasty reaction I got from a lot of people here at breaktime----- I was pretty suprised myself.
the one I worked for functioned as a sort of clearinghouse for dozens and dozens of smaller local charities------- They told me that our foodbank was the second largest one in the country. I forget the exact figure------ but I was staggered by the statistics on the number of people dependent on that foodbank-------- primarily children and their mothers.
Basically--- I was---and am---in a situation where I could give really unlimmited work to the organization. We had regular donors---churches, grocery stores( lots of grocery stores) charities running food drives etc.----- I drove one route on mondays---another route on tuesdays--another on weds. etc.--- picking up donations.
Eventually---- some lawyer got wind of it and raised some insurance objections. It seems that since I wasn't employed by the foodbank----- I wasn't properly insured to be driving their vans and trucks
THAT's when I learned it is suprisingly hard to give away large amounts of your time and work.
I also suspect there are a LOT of people who would be bent out of shape if they recieved a card or note informing them that a donation had been made in their name to a charity( foodbank, boyscouts etc.) there were certainly a number of people HERE eager to tell me I was waisting my time volunteering at a foodbank--- and enabling "those" people. LOL
Best wishes to you, Stephen
Edited 12/19/2005 6:33 am ET by Hazlett
I have one supplier who sends out Christmas Cards and used to send out a gift as well but instead of a gift they donate the cost of the gifts to the local childrens hospital. This year it was $7500.
Jeff
Stephen - Out of curiousity, did you find the food bank work rewarding? I've thought about it, but the closest I come to feeding anyone is making PB&J sandwiches at my Church for homeless every couple weeks. I'm not sure if I could deal with some of the recipients. (Feel free to e-mail me if you don't want to discuss this further here.)
Don K.
EJG Homes Renovations - New Construction - Rentals
DonK,
I don't have any trouble talking about it.
I found it rewarding------ but in actuality I didn't have much interaction with the food recipients.
the way it worked was---- we were functioning as a central warehouse for literally dozens of soup kitchens, lunch programs etc.( really the distribution for 3-4 counties worth of soup kitchens etc.)
most of what I did was drive and collect food donated from various sites. A lot of bakeries and grocery stores donated day old baked goods---- Krispy Kreme Donuts donated a lot of donuts from time to time( we have the nations oldest continuously operating Krispy Kreme store in town)------a lot of businesses would have canned food drives ---that sort of thing.
Each morning ( EARLY) representatives from literally dozens of soup kitchens etc. would come in and pick up food for their operations from our food bank------- I didn't have much to do with that end of it ( stuff going out)---- I dealt really with stuff coming in.
when I first started there I worked sorting stuff out----- a lot of the people I worked with at that stage were also volunteers-----some people were paid employees of the foodbank----- some people were working in job training programs learning basic job skills, some other people were high school students doing volunteer service hours ------- just a wide range of potential co-workers
this operation was so big--- they really had some talented and skilled professional help directing operations------ fairly big trucks----an older ratty van I worked out of.
they also had an AMAZINGLY goodlooking social worker/volunteer coordinator working there--LOL
One thing though------ if you have ever worked with habitat for humanity etc.--- you will find that YOU are used to working at a MUCH more productive pace than a lot of your volunteer co-workers etc.-------- some of them were slow----but hugely dedicated.
I would encourage you to look into it------- I am sure there are opportunities for you if you want to help---without touching a soup ladle or the like-----------
Be aware though----- that when you find out that MOST of the need is for feeding kids and the elderly----it's gonna make you QUITE angry at certain political positions, specific politicians, radio talkshow hosts etc.---and ya really got ta keep that under controll--------- it's not really a feelgood opportunity
But---all-in-all---ya I would say it was rewarding.
Best wishes, Stephen
Mr. Hazlett -
As much as I appreciate your insight and thoughts, I send cards out to the people I deal with, the ones I like. I don't care if they are old, or new. I just think about the ones I enjoy working for/with, and would work for again. If I know or suspect they are non-christians, I'll use a Happy Holidays card.
If anyone doesn't have the wherewithal to appreciate a Christmas card, with the intended good wishes, I really don't need to be working for them.
Don K.
EJG Homes Renovations - New Construction - Rentals
Did none of you ever see nice cards with some evergreens, or a Currier & Ives scene, or whatever, with a message inside that says something about wishing good things for the coming year?
I think they might be thought of as "Holiday" cards, & nearly all religions, & all the atheists like me, are happy to celebrate a winter holiday!