The Sender of Cards

Clients for Life with Cards

2010-03-01T21:31:00.001-08:00

Many types of businesses use greeting cards as a way to build relationships with their clients. Some of these greeting cards simply go out on a regular basis and include coupons or discount vouchers, but some smaller businesses can really keep their clients happy with personalized greeting cards sent at just the right time. People who benefit most from greeting cards are those who depend on building up a client base or those who depend on word-of-mouth advertising, including insurance agents, real estate agents, and even small town hairdressers and tailors.

If you are an independent agent or if you own your own small business, the idea of sending greeting cards to all your clients at just the right time might seem completely overwhelming. After all, you have to take care of all your regular marketing needs, keep your business running, and deal with the clients who are in front of you now. However, you can’t afford to miss out on the way that regular greeting cards can keep you at the forefront of your clients’ minds and build you a client base for life.

There are many different ways that you can send greeting cards to your clients or potential clients, but it’s important that you connect with people during times that they’re open to the connection. During holidays and birthdays, people are likely to appreciate the fact that you took time to send a card. If you’re in a position to know about things like graduations and new births, you can even send greeting cards for these occasions. Your clients will be very impressed that you thought of them during these less typical times, and they’ll certainly appreciate the fact that you know a bit about their lives beyond just the parts that you deal with directly.

If sending out a hundred Christmas cards to your clients each year seems overwhelming, consider sending cards at off times of the year and splitting your cards between different clients. For instance, send out fifty cards around the Fourth of July, and send out fifty more before the holidays around Thanksgiving. At any rate, this can also help you avoid some of the “Merry Christmas” or “Happy Holidays” dilemma that confronts you during the month of December.

Also, you can easily set up a system for sending out birthday cards to clients at the beginning of each month. This has the advantage of splitting up your card sending responsibilities into manageable amounts, and you may even be able to write in personal messages if you only have to send ten or fifteen cards each month. Plus, your clients will love getting birthday cards since almost everyone is used to getting special attention around his or her birthday.

At any rate, greeting cards pose an affordable option for keeping in touch with many of your former clients. The relationships that you have with these people – whether they are ongoing or one-time – will be invaluable in keeping your client base solid and in getting the word out about your business to many other potential clients.

Keep Them Coming Back with Greeting Cards

2010-02-06T21:01:00.001-08:00

If you’re in a networking business, real estate, or a financial firm, one of your main goals will be to maintain customer relationships. It’s not like you’re a grocery store where people will show up often because they always need a gallon of milk or a dozen eggs. You need to work harder to keep your clients thinking about your business so that they come back, and you need to work hard to build a sterling reputation so that word of mouth advertising expands your business more than anything else would. One way to maintain these close ties with your clients and to keep them coming back to your business time and time again is to use greeting cards.

There are many different ways that you can use greeting cards, and there are many appropriate times to send them to your clients. Overall, though, the more personalized the cards are, the more likely your clients will be to sit up and take notice. Also, sending greeting cards in a timely fashion will help you make sure that your clients really appreciate your thoughtfulness.

One great time to send a greeting card is to a new client who has just switched his or her business to you. If a homeowner has listed her home with you, send her a card thanking her for the business. If an investor has started using your investment services over the services of another financial firm, send him a thank you note. The point of these cards isn’t, of course, to point out how the client is much better off with you, anyway, but to show the client that you do appreciate his or her business and that you’re willing to work to make him or her happy.

You can also use greeting cards to alert clients of special deals. If you have a decent client base built up, maybe you could send greeting cards to everyone who has been with your business for several years, offering them a thank you for sticking by you for so long and some sort of discount or special deal as a way to thank them for their loyalty. Again, this will simply remind clients that you are thoughtful and that you’re willing to go the extra mile for them, which will easily turn five years of loyalty into several decades.

Of course you can always send clients cards around the holidays, too. This is a prime time for sending out deals, thank you notes, and notes of encouragement or appreciation. You could send a traditional Christmas card or a more generic winter holiday card. Alternatively, you could get your cards in the mail early in November in time to arrive for Thanksgiving. This holiday is usually overlooked for card giving, but cards that come at this time are more likely to be noticed simply because the mailbox won’t be flooded with Christmas greetings from friends, family members, and other businesses. Sending your cards at a unique time is a great way to be sure your clients notice your thoughtfulness.

Ways to Personalize Marketing Greeting Cards

2010-01-22T23:07:00.001-08:00

Marketing greeting cards can be a great way to maintain contact with your clients, to form relationships with new and potential clients, and to make sure that people are speaking well of you and spreading word of your business in a wonderful way. However, many marketing greeting cards are pretty bland and predictable, and some people get more annoyed at the cards that stuff up their mailboxes than they are appreciative of the thoughtfulness of their banker, real estate agent, or whoever else.

If you really want to impress your clients, you should send greeting cards with a personal twist. There are many ways that you can do this, and most of them aren’t even too complicated. Just to get you started, here are a few ideas.

First off, try sending the greeting cards at unexpected times. Everyone gets an influx of cards in their boxes throughout the month of December, but consider sending cards for Thanksgiving or just after the New Year. These cards will be more appreciated simply because they’ll be more noticeable. They won’t end up getting lost in the shuffle, and they can also extract you from some of the politically correct awkwardness that comes around all the religious holidays at the end of the year.

Next, try creating greeting cards that really say something about you and your business. You might try putting a family picture on the front of the card or putting a picture of you and all your staff and coworkers inside. This way, if people don’t recognize your name off the bat, they’ll remember your face and understand why you’re sending them a card. Plus, letting people know that you have a lovely family or a good relationship with your coworkers and staff can help them form a positive image of you, which will only aide in your efforts to form good client relationships.

You can also personalize cards by put your own handwriting in them and including personal details of your clients and customers. For example, a real estate agent could comment on the new paint or front garden in a home she recently sold that she happened to drive by recently. You can also make inquiries about people’s family members, and using names will seriously help the relationship along. In fact, as often as you can, address each family member by first name. The fact that you even remember first names will be a big deal for your clients, let alone the fact that you took time to write to the family in a personalized card.

Finally, whenever you do a mailing, try to use the real cards that come in envelopes and don’t look like just another sales ad to be thrown into the recycling bin. Using pretty cards, even if you know that you bought them cheaply, can be a great way to make your business look good and to make your greeting card seem even more thoughtful. Plus, people are more likely to read a nice looking card that comes in a envelope.

The Referral of a Lifetime

2010-01-15T22:02:00.001-08:00

I came across a great book - "The Referral of a Lifetime" by Tim Templeton. He shares a system for building a business on continuing relationships with customers and "center of influence" referral sources, and referred customers. A good portion of the book refers to using cards and gifts to build and maintain these relationships.

Every good salesperson knows the two best customers to work with are a customer who is happy with a previous purchase from you and a referred customer. If you work with these people properly, you will have overcome the huge hurdles of winning the customers trust and have at least the seeds of relationships. If you offer valuable products and services to people who like and trust you, the sale is vastly easier than making sales to cold leads.

The book is the story of Susie McCumber, a salesperson who is ready to quit from frustration with cold calling. Susie's friend, Chuck Krebbs, who owns the California Coffee Cafe and Bistro, introduces Susie to David Highground. David Highground becomes Susie's mentor in learning how to build a referral-based business. Other former students of David’s spend time with Susie showing her how they have adapted the system to their individual personalities and use the system to build successful businesses.

The system is built around the Golden Rule - doing good turns for others and building relationships.

You build a database of people that you know or meet. Rank them ABC, according to how enthusiastic they are about you, especially how much they refer clients or customers. Provide excellent service and become known as a reliable, friendly person. Keep in touch consistently, personally and systematically. Express appreciation to your customers and contacts regularly through cards and gifts.

By building relationships and doing good turns for others, you earn the "hall pass" to ask for referrals.

A Birthday Card System

2010-01-12T22:44:00.001-08:00

If you rely on greeting cards as a marketing tool for your business, you may already send out thank you cards and holiday cards on a regular basis. Have you ever thought of expanding your card marketing system by adding in birthday cards? People love to get cards around their birthdays, no matter who they’re from, and you can easily add in little birthday extras that will bring your clients back again and again. The key to sending birthday cards to all your clients, though, is to have a system set up to make it all easier.

First off, start by organizing your client’s birthdays. This is pretty easily done using some sort of contact manager. All you need is the client’s name, birthday, and address. An easy way to collect birthdays (besides simply asking for them) is to have a sign up sheet. It is always easier to get the birthday if you don’t ask for the year.

Once you have this set up, you need to get your card system ready. It will be easier for you if you just pick out one card format for each year and create a campaign for it, but if you want to make them a little more personal for special clients, you can always pick up smaller campaigns of more individualized cards. Set aside a little time to work on the birthday cards. Messages with a personalized font will always make a bigger impression. At the very least, you should include your own signature.

Then, simply set up your card system to send out cards in large groups on the first of the month or near the middle of the month. Over time, sending out greeting cards for birthdays will become automatic, and with the right system you can computerize it to do most of the work for you. Don’t forget to add new clients to your birthday card list as your business grows because all of your clients will very much appreciate being thought of around their birthdays.

For special clients include a gift. A good card system will allow you to send gift cards and other gifts automatically with the cards.

Eventually, you’ll get a system down pat that works for you, and you’ll be able to send out birthday cards on time every month. This will keep your clients coming back for more, and it will help your business grow.

Network Marketing Greeting Cards

2010-01-01T20:29:00.001-08:00

Network marketing is really less about selling a product than it is about building and maintaining relationships with a whole lot of people. While it’s impossible to have truly close relationships with twenty, fifty, or a hundred people, it is possible to maintain some level of connection. If you’re moving up in the network marketing world, you’ll have more and more people underneath you in the marketing scheme, and greeting cards can be a great way to stay in touch with those who are essentially helping you make money. If you need to get more leads for your marketing campaign, you can also go with greeting cards.

Essentially, sending out greeting cards presents you as a person who truly cares about the people he or she works with. In network marketing, your image is everything because it’s what sells the idea behind the product that you’re selling. If you can improve the image of you that those who are below you in the network marketing scheme hold, you’ll do a better job of forming solid relationships and contacts that last a lifetime. Besides this, if you make yourself seem more accessible, those who are working with you will be more likely to come to you with questions, which means they’ll be less likely to drop out of the network marketing company.

Obviously you can’t send cards to everyone for every single thing that happens in their lives. You need to prioritize. Maybe you send out holiday cards to all of your contacts in December but focus on sending birthday cards, anniversary cards, and congratulations cards to those who are closest to you in the network marketing scheme. These people, after all, are the ones upon whom you are most depending, so you should definitely focus on maintaining relationships with them.

Each time you send out a card to your network marketing contacts, be sure that it’s personal without being overly pushy. If you have a small enough group of contacts, write a personal note in each greeting card, and try to focus on praising your contacts for what they’ve done over the past year, six months, or whatever. You may even want to include a picture of your family or the workers at your office, which will give people faces to go with the names that they’ve been hearing. This is especially useful for contacts that you’ve never actually met.

When you’re giving cards to your closer contacts, be sure to step it up a notch. Maybe instead of simple postcards with a one-line note from you, you should send a beautiful card in an envelope with a longer note about what you’ve appreciated about that person over the past year or so. Kind words – as long as they are heartfelt and true – will serve to build up relationships more than almost anything else, so you can definitely keep your most important network marketing relationships going by thoughtfully using greeting cards and words that actually mean something. Focusing on other people is really how network marketing ends up bringing benefits back to you, anyway.

2009-12-21T18:29:00.000-08:00

Below is a nice essay about why don't businesses invest just a little in their customers and create raving fans. A card on a customer's birthday could create a person that directs thousands of dollars of new business to a company.

As I write this, all day long, it’s my birthday. I’ve gotten emails and tweets and Facebook wishes from friends. And I’m grateful to know they’re all thinking of me.

But what about the companies and products and services I have relationships with? Why aren’t they taking this perfect, regular, anticipated, ego-full chance to single me out from the crowd and make me think of them on my birthday? (Tactics aside…)

Why doesn’t iTunes send you a code for 1 free 99cent song on your birthday?

What if Dunkin Donuts gave you free coffee on your birthday, in a special birthday cup that people will notice (and remark on) when you walk in to the office?

Imagine if GoDaddy offered you, Birthday Girl, any 1 of these 10 available variations of your name, today only, for 1 year, free.

What if Twitter put a cupcake icon on your profile. lick and see a live list of everyone who said “Happy Birthday @neilhimself !” that day.

It’s not just about free stuff and attention from followers. It’s about a business making up their minds to have an ongoing relationship with you, to invent fun ways to delight you, and mostly about following through in a way you’ll tell your friends about.

Happy birthday.

Megan Casey is Editor in Chief of Squidoo.com

The Corvette Story

2009-10-26T20:01:00.000-07:00

Here is a fun story from a couple that have a very successful card business. They have a great time at it.

One of Those Moments

2009-10-06T21:21:00.000-07:00

Here is a wonderful video about how greeting cards can make a difference.

Sympathy Cards

2009-10-02T05:41:00.000-07:00

Photo: Life

The Art of Manliness has a nice post on sending sympathy cards.

Here is a short summary:

How to Write a Sympathy Note

Use nice stationary (or a card). Casual notes can be written on whatever is handy. But the sympathy note requires something nicer. Death is the gravest of matters and your medium should reflect your respect for the weight of the situation.
Keep it short and simple. A lot of men can’t get started writing because they think they have to come up with something deep and philosophical about death, dying, and hope. While the bad news is that there’s nothing you can write to take away a person’s pain, the good news is that the grieving friend knows this just as well as you do. They’re not expecting something profound. They just want to know that you’re thinking of them and feeling for them. Start off by expressing your sadness at hearing about the death. “I was so sorry to hear about the death of your father.”
Share a memory. There’s not much you can do to alleviate someone’s grief, but sharing a memory of the deceased person comes close. It gives the person a few moments to laugh and remember. And it warms their heart to know that others have special memories of their loved one that they carry with them. Share some of the special qualities and favorite memories about the deceased.
If you didn’t know the person your friend lost, then skip this step. If your friend lost a baby, tell them that you understand that even though your friend never got to meet their child, they’re grieving over the loss of the future they’ve been dreaming about with him or her.
Don’t try to explain the loss. If you’re a religious person, don’t offer platitudes like “This is God’s plan,” or “This is God’s will.” This might be something the person comes to believe in the future, but in the midst of their grief, the idea of God snatching their loved one from the earth is liable to piss them off. I knew a guy who lost his wife in a car accident, leaving him to raise his 5 young children alone. He said to me, “If I hear one more person say, ‘God needed her more in heaven,’ I’m going to knock them out.”
Don’t compare your loss with theirs. This is especially true if you haven’t experienced the exact same thing. If their child has died, don’t tell them how you know what they’re going through because your dog just expired last week. You’ll come off as calluous and tick them off. If you have experienced a similar loss, a reference to your ability to truly sympathize is appropriate. But don’t go on and on about how you felt during that time; the focus should remain on the other person.
Show your solidarity. Let them know that you’re thinking and praying for them. If you or your friend or family member is not religious and a reference to prayer would not be appropriate, simply say, “My heart and thoughts go out to you during this difficult time.”
Close by offering your help. Let the person know that if there is anything you can do for them or if they ever want to talk or hang out, to please let you know.

Referral Marketing for Realtors with Greeting Cards

2009-08-30T16:22:00.000-07:00

Excellent post over at Slideshare on referral marketing with greeting cards for Realtors.

Referral Marketing for Realtors with Greeting Cards

Birthday Cards for Soldiers

2009-08-11T22:28:00.000-07:00

The Hugs for Soldiers allows you to send birthday cards to soldiers far from home. You can send one card or one hundred cards, this is a great opportunity to help support our troops.

Mail greeting cards to:

Hugs for Soldiers
P. O. Box 2887
Duluth, GA 30096

Pet Greeting Cards

2009-07-30T19:55:00.000-07:00

Photo: flicker

Send out a greeting card of your pet. Greeting cards are a great way to stay in touch or reconnect with old friends. A greeting card with a picture of your dog or dogs can be a way to share that special moment that you are so proud of. A pet greeting card can add a special touch to holiday greetings and provides a tangible keepsake that can be displayed or cherished.

Those involved in the pet industry can use greeting cards to keep in contact with their puppy buyers. A thank you card goes a long way to building good will and a long term relationship. Sending a real, personalized greeting card that has picture of the puppy dam and sire on it distinguishes your kennel from the pack.

Boarding kennel owners can create loyalty among their customers through the use of a card with a picture of the customers pet on it Why not take a picture while the pet is staying at the kennel and then send it to the customer to ensure repeat business. Greeting cards are inexpensive, but they are an effective way to connect with customers and let them know the business cares about them and their pet. It may seem like it just adds to the pile of mail consumers receive every day, but only 44% from a recent survey received a thank you card from companies after a major purchase. The percentage from kennels must be must lower. Sending a real, personalized greeting card would distinguishes one kennel from the others.

No one ever is going to complain about getting a greeting card in the mail. especially one with a picture of a beautiful, happy dog on it.

Postcards and Twitter

2009-07-26T17:16:00.000-07:00

Karen Daniels from NextDayFlyers.com tells us that postcards and Twitter have a lot in common.

If you’ve used Twitter, you know it’s limited to 140 characters. Do you know why? The postcard. As the story goes, the character limit was dreamed up by Friedhelm Hillebrand (father of modern text messaging) who came up with 160 as the “magic number” needed to convey something. When the deciding committee looked at Postcards and found most of the messages were around 150 characters – voila – the 160 character limit was born (Twitter keeps those extra 20 characters for usernames). Fascinating, right?

Karen goes on to talk about how you can apply this to direct mail marketing.

Think Vacation Postcard, not Marketing Postcard
The day of the forceful “I’m selling you something” marketing is gone to be replaced by relationship-driven marketing. If you don’t care about your customers, they’re not going to care about you. Remember those vacation postcards your friends have sent you over the years? “Hey, wish you were here?”That’s the feeling a Tweet gives you and the feeling you want to replicate with mailers today.

Keep it Short and Conversational
We are so deluged with information, it is a good idea to squeeze the important aspects of your message into as few words as possible because you’ll have a better chance at getting people to read and respond. The nature of both Twitter and Postcards force you to keep things short and get right to the point. Amen.

Be Personal - Don’t Automate
Even though there are ways to automate your Twitter responses experts say that it’s best not to do that. The same goes for Postcards. Give your postcard campaigns a chatty personal feeling, use names whenever possible, and create copy that is more like talking to a friend.

Updates & Invitations
Use postcards to keep your customers updated on events, promos etc. Just like you would with Tweets. For instance, send out a “mark your calendar” postcard for important events. Twitter is a good forum for generating quick invites to your blog or site – so are postcards. Use them to generate a quick phone call or for “driving people to your Web site” (or to your Twitter site).

The Postcard Tweet Me
One of the cool things about Twitter is the “you talk I listen, I talk you listen” thing – you know, a conversation. You can imitate this feeling with direct mail by sending out a mailer with a postcard the customer can return. A conversational, “Hey, what did you think of the red shirt you bought from us? Send in this card and let us know.” Then when they send the card in, respond to them by sending an email or other communication, “Thanks for letting us know how you liked the red shirt” and then invite them to follow you on your blog or Twitter.

The idea is to think about people as people, not a prospect or a customer. Make your tweets and postcards about the people you are connecting with. Imagine the smile on their face when the postman delivers something special other than a bill or advertisement.

"I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel." - Maya Angelou

Find a system that will let you send out high quality postcards for less then a dollar including postage.

Send Out To Give - Casey's Story

2009-07-26T15:39:00.000-07:00

Casey Eberhart tells a wonderful story about how through sending out greeting cards, he learned that appreciaton will win out over self promotion.

How to Start a Greeting Card Business

2009-07-25T17:36:00.000-07:00

Photo: flicker

David Dutton has written a good article on “7 Reasons Why Starting a Greeting Card Business Makes Complete Sense.”

People want the product
People buy what they want, not what they need. You want to make it as easy as possible for people to hand me money and selling a product that people want makes my life easier.
The greeting card industry is a billion dollar industry.
By showing people that they can send real greeting cards right from their computer and in their own handwriting, for about a dollar, it is a no brainer for people.

People want the product
David stresses this. Sell something people want.

Fun
Starting a greeting card business is so much fun! People gravitate to opportunities that are fun and exciting. The greeting card business is like that. People react positivity when they receive a greeting card with pictures on the cover and a funny message.
It is almost like instant gratification because within 5-7 days people will call you and be so thankful for the card you sent.
When I was working with other products, it was hard to get motivated about the products, not true when starting a greeting card business.

Low cost to join.
For a low amount of money you can be in business in minutes and join a winning team to support you in your new business. That is cheap compared to other opportunities. Plus you can use the service yourself.
David explains that it takes only a small amount to say yes but it takes $10,000 to say no to this opportunity.
In other words, by saying no to joining a team, you could be missing out on over $10,000 in residual commissions.

3 ways to make money
David states that you can go after opportunities that interest you. If retailing is your thing then you can go after that huge niche. David states that retailing can be done through - friends, family, open houses, home parties, retail stores, craft shows and boutiques, county fairs and street fairs, business expos, while out and about, etc. Fundraisers - sports teams, school PTA's/PTO's, church groups, youth groups, dance studios, non profit organizations, school bands, boy/girl scouts, etc.
If you want to start a greeting card mailing business for other businesses then you can do that. If you just target business owners who want to grow their business then you could literally clean house because they are always adding new customers and contacting the ones they already have.
If you want to build a team to market the business then you can do that and build your residual income.

A consumable product that virtually everyone uses and has built in demand.

Guess what? Christmas comes in December this year...and next year....and next year.
Birthdays are in the same category. People buy greeting cards every year and if you can show them a cooler way to send those cards then they would send even more cards.

A solid program where people can learn a few simple steps and they can be profitable.

There is a huge up line with several events each week for training. These coaching sessions along with materials from the main organization set people up for success.

Why You Should Include Greeting cards in Your Business

2009-07-19T21:38:00.000-07:00

Photo: Nieves44

1. Most businesses lose 10-17% of their business every year.

2. 62% of your clients aren’t taking advantage of all of your products or services.

3. 91% of our customers say they would give us a referral.

4. 80% haven’t been encouraged to do so!

5. You lose 10% of your influence for every month that you don’t have contact with your client.

6. A 5% increase in customer loyalty could yield 20-80% to your bottom line.

7. Studies show that an average prospect won’t do business with you until they’ve seen or heard from you or your message at least 7 times.

8. 79% of all trade show leads aren’t followed up.

9. 66% of your business within the next year will come from your sphere of influence.

10. Only 3% of the mail we receive is personal.

Based on these statistics, it just makes sense that you should send greeting cards to your prospects and customers.

Thank You Cards

2009-07-17T23:21:00.000-07:00

A thank you card is what makes a gentleman a gentleman and a lady a lady. It displays grace, courteousness and thoughtfulness. Sending a thank you card distinguishes one from the masses. In business, it acts as a relationship builder with you and your customers showing them you appreciate and value their patronage.

We should teach our children to respond promptly after receiving a gift and send back a thank you card. This teaches them to respect the effort that giver of the gift made. Explain to the child why it is important to say thank you for a gift. Talk about how the person cared enough for them to find the perfect item, buy it, wrap it and deliver it. Tell them how special it would be for them to get a note from your child saying how much he loved his present. Take your child's age into consideration. A very young child can't write a note. It is a nice idea to use a card system where you can include a picture of the child playing with toy or wearing the article of clothing. An older child who knows how to write should write a regular thank you note.

In business after a job interview, most hiring managers expect to receive a thank-you note. It's important to act quickly when sending a thank-you card to your interviewer. From an article from Career Builder - a thank-you note allows you to accomplish three objectives: Express your appreciation for the opportunity; reinforce your interest in the job; and restate the value you can bring to the organization. And, often, composing a thank-you note takes less time than you may think since this type of message should be only a few paragraphs in length.

Do not underestimate the power of a thank you card. First, a thank you card lets someone know that you received something. Secondly it lets them know you were thinking of them and that you appreciate them. Here are some tips for the either personal or business cards:

• Use Dear with their first name for the greeting if you have a personal relationship with them. Otherwise, use Mr. or Ms.
• Give as many details as needed to personalize the card but be brief and to the point.
• Be sure to emphasize the word "you" and under emphasize the word "I".
• Mention the gift, interview, service, or favor that you are writing the card about. Be sure to include how the gift, interview, service, or favor has affected you specifically.
• End the card with an informal closing, such as "best", "regards", or "sincerely".
• Always check your spelling and grammar.

Find a system that allows you quickly send cards without having to travel to a store. With this, you will not have any excuses for not sending a card.

How to have a great relationship with your older parents.

2009-07-11T10:42:00.000-07:00

My parents, circa 1960

Of course you love your parents. But at times, maintaining the bond between parent and adult child can be as challenging as that between parent and teenager. Some of you already have a great relationship with your older parents. You stay in regular contact with them, both you and your parents are forgiving of each one’s shortcomings and you and your parents can talk about your lives, hopes, and dreams. However, some of us have to work on this; to build the relationship. Sometimes the generational gap seems enormous. You can’t find any common ground. They don’t understand what you do for a living. They don’t seem interested in your life.

Focus on their interests

Instead of talking about yourself, focus on them. Be a good listener, encourage them to talk about themselves. Find out what they like and are interested in. Most people like to talk about what interests them. Focus the conversation then around those areas that you can share with them. It might be the outdoors, cooking, and sports. At any age, sharing a common task or activity, and the stories it encourages, is a great way to build closeness. Out of all of their interests, there should be one or two things that you can make a constant part of your relationship with them. This will give you a safe area of conversation that you can always go to.

Photo: kreyten

Find something to teach each other.

Another way to find commonality is to have them teach you something. Recognize that they have years of experience and allow them to share it with you. It might be baking or some sort of handy work. A good way is to find something that they have done and you admire and ask them to teach you how to do it. Return the favor. Teach them something about the new technology. Help them set up and run a computer on the Internet or help them get all of the benefits out of their cell phone. A great idea is to help your parents preserve their memories on through digitizing their photos. Help them create a family tree through one of either online or software genealogy methods. The finished product will not only be a testament to a renewed closeness between you, but also provides a wonderful legacy for you.

Keep in contact with cards

Even if you near your parents, send them a greeting card on a regular basis. Make it a real card, not an e-card which comes across as impersonal. They will treasure a card that can hold in their hands and keep and show to others. Let them know about the news in your life, though keep technology, business, or work jargon out. As above, focus on topics of mutual interest: talk about the things you have done or plan to do together. You can thank them for a particular lesson or the overall support you get from them. Express your appreciation for all your parents have done for you. Make it personal. When sending a card, take the time to choose one with a picture or design that you know will appeal. Use a system that allows you to import a picture that means something to both of you.

Ultimately it is to your advantage to work on developing a healthy relationship with your older parents. Pleasant interactions with them can add a wonderful dimension to your life.

Sending Sympathy Cards

2009-07-08T20:06:00.000-07:00

A colleague from my office passed away recently. While I did not know his family, I sent a sympathy card to share my condolences. A sympathy or condolence card is a way to show support for the grieving person and/or family.

Unlike a card for other occasions, a sympathy card can be hard to compose. Don't put it off, attempt to send your sympathy card as soon as you hear about the death. Here are some tips for writing such a card:

Do not try to do too much with the card. Try to express sincere feeling and to say something specific, if possible, about the deceased. The main thing is to offer your support , in words that feel right to you. A quality card with a personal line such as "My thoughts are with you" and your signature will do.

Benefits of Sending Sympathy Cards

As I stated before, one of the main reasons to send a sympathy card is to help the survivors with their grieving and healing. A sympathy card tells the survivors that you cared about the person and about them enough to take the time to send a card.

It is important to the family to know that they have the support of others in the community to make it through the difficult time. It is also important to know that their loved one was cared for by others. The sympathy card is a way of letting them know you have them in your thoughts.

The bereaved person may find themselves re-reading sympathy cards as a physical reminder of the caring and support from friends and family. They may re-read the card over again days, weeks or years after the loss any time they want to feel the support. Re-reading the cards is a way to re-experience the loving thoughts and tender memories written by caring friends during a time of great sorrow. This is one reason why an email or even a e-card is not appropriate for an expression of sympathy or condolence. Sympathy cards can even become keepsakes and family heirlooms that are passed down in boxes from one generation to the next.

If you hear of someones death, take a few minutes to sit down, and send a heartfelt, quality sympathy card. The benefits to the survivors will be beyond measure.

The Lost Art of Correspondence

2009-07-05T11:53:00.000-07:00

Personal correspondance is

a way to touch those we love.

In the modern world of email, SMS, Twitter and Instant Messaging, who really cares about correspondence in the form of a letter or card? You should. Not any form of electronic message can replace a heartfelt letter of card. It is more than a form of communication. It is a gift.

Lost is the ability to open, hold, the psychological joy and contentment of touching, and holding a card. Sending e-cards may be more convenient than traditional cards, however we lost the ability to cherish those cards which can be placed and displayed on tables, workstations, cupboards etc. Many physical letters and cards are kept for remembrance for that loving moment that prompted the sending of the card. History is lost as electronic love letters are being deleted after being read.

Photo: James Cridland

Do not misunderstand me. I am technophile from the ground up. As reflected by this article, I blog, use email, I have a Blackberry and a Smartphone , use IM, am on Twitter. These are all useful tools in my personal and work life, because they provide an instant (or near instant) response, they are convenient, and they are the means of communication for so many people. These should not be the only tools. Cards and letters not to be forgotten or labeled as old fashioned.

I spent many years in the military separated from my family during numerous deployments. My wife and I always kept in touch with each other through greeting cards. It was a joy to receive cards a several times a week. It strengthened the bond that my wife still share to this day after twenty years of marriage. My son goes to college in New Mexico, quite a distance from our home in Washington State. I make it a point to send him a card at least twice week. I talk about his inspirations, current events and goings on here at home. During our weekly phone calls, it is hard to tell someone how much we feel for them. A card or letter allows us the intimacy to do this. This sense of intimacy of a physical form of correspondence instead of an email or phone call brings us closer together as father and son. Sending a letter or a card does show more effort and a deeper level of personal commitment.

Military receiving mail during the holidays,

World War II

Let’s restart the art of correspondence. I have a couple ideas that can help you get back into practice:

Send a thank you not to a coworker, employee or supervisor. Write a card that tells them what they mean to you and the organization.

Write cards to your significant other, spouse, children, and parents expressing your thoughts on an important event or milestone. Tell them how much you care about them. Thank them for being a part of your life. Encourage your children to write cards to you and other family members from time to time.

Use personalized cards that mean something to you and the recipient. Use a system that allows you to import photos and your own handwriting.

Send out cards. Whether it is a card for expressing your love for someone or a just staying in touch note, people will realize you care and do things a bit differently from the average person.

Writing Love Letters

2009-06-28T13:54:00.000-07:00

The Art of of Manliness has an excellent post on writing a love letter. Having spent over twenty years in the Army and many times away from my family, I would say that receiving (and sending) cards as love letters is one of the ways my wife and I were able to keep our love for each other. Emails just don't feel the same as receiving something in the mail from the person we love. We just recently celebrated our twenty year anniversary. Writing each other “real letters and cards” made it seem that we were not so far apart those many deployments.

I have been out of the Army for several years, but still send a card to my wife quite often. It is also nice to clean out a back corner of the closet and come across a box of old letters every once in awhile. It reminds me of what we had and still have.

Here are some tips from the Art of Manliness on how to write a good love letter:

1. Start off by stating the purpose of your letter. You want your love to know right away that this is a love letter.

2. Recall a romantic memory.

3. Now transition to a section about the things you love about her.

4. Tell her how your life has changed since meeting her.

5. Reaffirm your love and commitment.

6. End with a line that sums up your love. “

As a bit of inspiration, here is a video that about a letter written in 1861 by Sullivan Ballou to his wife Sarah, a week before the Battle of Bull Run:

The Power of a Greeting Card

2009-06-27T17:14:00.000-07:00

Here is a wonderful story on the power of a greeting card and what it meant to someone who was retiring.

Send Greeting Cards to Increase Customer Loyalty

2009-06-25T18:50:00.000-07:00

Many factors predict customer loyalty, including satisfaction with the product and customer service, trust and length of purchase history, but a company that thanks their customers can definitely create loyalty among their customers. And, why not send cards? They are inexpensive, but they are an effective way to connect with customers and let them know you care. If you think you're just adding to the pile of mail consumers receive every day, only 44% from a recent survey received a thank you card from companies after a major purchase. Sending a real, personalized greeting card distinguishes your business from the pack.

You can send a greeting card any time of year

You don't need a major holiday to send a greeting card or note; you can send them anytime. The holidays are a perfect excuse for sending a card, but holidays like Christmas and Thanksgiving are busy times of the year for most people and they receive a lot of mail from a lot of sources. If you want to send a card that is connected to these holidays, send them a few weeks or a month early. It's not uncommon for people to receive Christmas cards the week after Thanksgiving! You can also send cards for holidays during other parts of the year. Send cards for uncommon holidays: Groundhog Day, St. Patrick’s Day. This will distinguish your business from the others.

Add a personal note to the card

If you write in your own handwriting a sincere thank you note expressing your appreciation for customers' business, you'll strengthen that customer relationship more so than with a generic card that you send to everyone. Mention the product or service that was just purchased and let the customer know that you want their experience to be perfect and offer a customer service number (or even better, include a business card as a picture in the card) for their reference.

You don't need to give them something every time

Many companies send out greeting cards with some kind of discount coupon or some other kind of offer. While that is okay if you want to do it, it is not required and even sometimes counterproductive. You don't need to send them an offer every time. Those promotional offers can run into a lot of lost profit. Just saying a nice thank you is enough for them to remember your company, your logo (put it in the card as a picture) and your brand. That way they won’t equate the card with advertising and only as a sincere appreciation of their business.

Greeting cards can increase customer loyalty. When an usable card distribution system is purchased that can easily collect customer names, addresses, and special dates, then use them in card sending campaigns, businesses can use greeting card marketing in a cost effective manner.

Become a "Professional Card Sender"

2009-06-24T18:57:00.000-07:00

Professional Card Senders provide a service for other small business professionals. As a card sender, your job is to keep these professionals, such as Real Estate Agents, Insurance Agents, Financial Advisors, in contact with their large client base. In order to keep the relationship strong with their clients, they need to continually work the relationship with their clients.

You help each of the professionals organize their contacts into a spreadsheet. Then you work with your client to devise a contact plan. Will they be sending out a standard Thank You with a follow up in 30 and/or 90 days. Will they send personal birthday cards or just a standard holiday card to everyone?

Here is where it becomes easy. Through the use of modern technology you can upload the spreadsheet into an online contact manager. Then you select the cards online for the different campaigns. You would simply broker the service and make a certain for doing it.

Picnik - Photo Editing Tool

2009-06-23T22:18:00.000-07:00

Building Camelot discuss the web application - Picnik. "Picnik is a web-based photo editing suite that makes it a breeze for you to create professional looking pictures without having to worry about learning complicated (and expensive) software."

Since most of the off the shelf photo editing tools run well over $100, this is an excellent tool to use to manipulate the photos you want to include in your greeting cards.

Send Greeting Cards through the Soldier's Angel Program

2009-06-23T06:52:00.000-07:00

Greeting cards are an excellent way to support our troops stationed around the world. The Soldier’s Angels Program provides a way to connect with soldiers, sailors and airmen with those who enjoy writing, and who know how important it is to hear your name called at mail call (sadly some soldiers get no mail at all from back home).

How it works: You may sign up for as many days in the week as would like to write letters. On each day you sign up for, you will receive (via email) a new name and address to write to. You are only asked to send one card or letter to each address you receive, but of course may send more if you like.

Quality greeting cards are an excellent way to participate in the Soldier’s Angel Program. E-cards are not the same and most military services block them because of the danger of computer viruses. As an ex-military member, I know personally that getting something real, in your hand means a lot when you are away from home. Just a quick note letting them know you appreciate their service will do the trick.

Sending Out Greeting Cards Boosts Business

2009-06-22T19:47:00.000-07:00

According to recent national research from Hallmark Business Expressions, customers respond positively when businesses take the time to communicate with them on a personal level. In the survey, 66 percent of the consumers indicated business greeting cards sent to show appreciation for a purchase or referral makes them more likely to do future business with the sender.

This particular study was focused on the Thanksgiving Holiday, but the findings are applicable to year around. Here are the study’s findings.

1. Thanking customers is an easy way to boost business and customer loyalty. And giving goes a long way, too. A ccording to the survey, 75 percent of consumers are more likely to do business with the sender when the greeting card is coupled with a promotional offer. At Thanksgiving, businesses can extend discount offers as an expression of thanks to the most loyal customers. Or, in the true spirit of the holiday, to all customers. Reaching out on a personal level might be the key to increasing customer loyalty and turning a now-and-then customer into a regular one.

2. Sending customers Thanksgiving cards is an effective way to reach them before the hustle and bustle of the holiday season begins. While sending business greeting cards to customers is a proven, effective way to increase customer loyalty, only 44 percent of consumers surveyed said they receive thank you cards from businesses. Thanksgiving creates a natural reason for businesses to increase customer loyalty by reaching out to their customers. And since about 77 percent of consumers say they currently receive holiday cards from businesses, sending Thanksgiving cards also creates an opportunity to cut through the clutter and get their message into customers’ hands early.

3. Employees will appreciate a note of thanksgiving, too. Business owners should take time to thank their employees during this holiday, in addition to regular employee retention and recognition efforts throughout the year. Recognizing employees for a specific job well done or even a year of excellent work is key to motivating them and increasing employee retention. Recognition Professionals International (RPI) estimates the cost of replacing an employee is equal to 30 percent of that employee’s annual salary, so keeping trained, efficient employees on-staff is important for both morale and the company’s bottom line.

The benefits of sending cards for creating, maintaining and reconnecting connections between the business, customers and employees, too is obvious. The above study was focused on a “standard holiday” of Thanksgiving. Just think of how a business could distinguish itself if it was able to send out inexpensive cards year round.

The History of Greeting Cards

2009-06-21T21:51:00.000-07:00

The History of Greeting Cards from Wikipedia:

The custom of sending greeting cards can be traced back to the ancient Chinese, who exchanged messages of good will to celebrate the New Year, and to the early Egyptians, who conveyed their greetings on papyrus scrolls. By the early 1400s, handmade paper greeting cards were being exchanged in Europe. The Germans are known to have printed New Year's greetings from woodcuts as early as 1400, and handmade paper Valentines were being exchanged in various parts of Europe in the early to mid-1400s, with the oldest Valentine in existence being in the British Museum.

By the 1850s, the greeting card had been transformed from a relatively expensive, handmade and hand-delivered gift to a popular and affordable means of personal communication, due largely to advances in printing and mechanization. This was followed by new trends like Christmas cards, the first of which appeared in published form in London in 1843 when Sir Henry Cole hired artist John Calcott Horsley to design a holiday card that he could send to his friends and acquaintances. In the 1860s, companies like Marcus Ward & Co, Goodall and Charles Bennett began the mass production of greeting cards. They employed well known artists such as Kate Greenaway and Walter Crane as illustrators and card designers.

Technical developments like color lithography in 1930 propelled the manufactured greeting card industry forward.

Humorous greeting cards, known as studio cards, became popular in the late 1940s and 1950s.