‘Sales have more to do with person to person relationships than
price or product,’ is an oft-repeated marketing mantra. As the
holiday season approaches, take a few minutes to actually
calculate the cost vs. potential value of your company’s holiday
practices.
I believe sending a holiday greeting card that is opened and
displayed by the receptionist, who normally has no decision-making
or purchasing authority, represents wasted marketing expenditures.
A holiday card sent from one business to another has little to do
with a person to person greeting. Have your company take the time
to actually figure out:
• Why you send holiday cards
•
What are the desired results of sending holiday cards
•
Who you should send them to
•
How much does this tradition costs your company
Start with who pays the bill for the holiday greetings. Which
department is responsible for the cost of the card, postage and
labor? Is it general overhead, charged to the sales department or
divided up among the revenue generating departments?
Also consider the time spent by your managers when calculating the
cost of a holiday business mailing: deciding if you want your
company’s name engraved on each card, if the company address and
logo should be printed on return envelope, delegating the ordering
process, and following up on the receipt of the cards. Who is
creating this list of customers? Will you send them to your
complete customer list, or just companies you have done business
with in the last 2 years, 6 months, etc.? Do you send cards to
potential customers, vendors, neighboring companies, personal
friends?
By the time you buy, stamp and send the card, your company is
investing between $2 to $5 per mailing. Take the appropriate
direct cost and multiply it by the number of cards sent. Depending
on the size of your mailing and percentage of overall company
profitability, your company will have to generate thousands of
dollars of additional revenue to cover the cost of your December
holiday cards.
Also, do you have a structure to deal with cards that are returned
by the post office? Who is responsible to research the validity of
the returned mail? Who will update your data base to reflect a
change of address, change of company name, or no longer being in
business?
When I think of the holiday season, what first comes to mind are
fond memories of Santa Claus, Christmas cookies, the Nativity and
presents under a decorated tree. According to a 2010 Card Catalog
I received in the mail recently, offering Premium Quality Cards
for Lasting Impressions, all of these things are inappropriate for
a business holiday card. Today’s catalog does not even mention
Christmas until page 16. The most prevalent messages are Season’s
Greetings, Global Peace and Best Wishes represented by corporate
landscapes, the earth and snowflakes. I understand the need to be
politically correct and inclusive, but what happened to the goal
for establishing personal relationships with our customers?
You may want to reconsider the value of just sending out sanitized
greetings to your corporate mailing list. Maybe 2010 is the time
to approach the sending of holiday cards in a more business-like
manner. I believe if you are sending out a card that isn’t
specifically addressed to a person at the company, with a
personal, hand written message on it, you are wasting your
company’s money.
I do believe in the value of mailing personalized cards that
represent more than an anonymous yearly ritual. I require every
member of my sales staff to send out at least one handwritten card
per week to a client with a note that is specific to that
customer. I also add in a business card with a colored paper clip,
which creates a bit of bulk in the envelope and stands out once
opened.
Furthermore, when your staff is sending person-specific addressed
cards or follow-up notes, consider using real stamps. The American
flag stamp or an appropriate commemorative stamp enables your mail
to stand out from other metered business correspondence. The most
expensive marketing your company will ever use is unopened
mailings that are thrown away.
There is great value in being creative and timely when
corresponding with clients, and I firmly believe in sending
holiday cards. But I choose to send holiday cards that commemorate
more than just Christmas. A more effective use of seasonal
greeting cards can include:
• Halloween -“We’ll treat you to the best deal of the season”
•
Thanksgiving - “We appreciate your trust and business”
•
New Year - “Start the year off with a new . . .”
•
Valentines - “We love doing business with you.”
•
St Patrick’s Day - “Save some green $$ this month”
•
Memorial Day - “In honor of . . .”
•
4th of July - “Red White and Blue special . . .”
•
Labor Day - “Let us lessen the toil of your work day . . .”
Other ideas are: Anniversary Special, Back to School, Spring
Break, Snow fever…And don’t underestimate the power of a short,
personalized Thank You card. Any of these greeting cards will
create a higher level of specific company recognition, while your
business makes a statement about its originality and genuine
thoughtfulness.
Avoid doing the same old thing, in the same old way. There is no
need to be part of the nameless flocks with the same old behavior
and consider the appropriateness of your company’s holiday cards.
There is more to the Christmas tradition than meets the eye. Take
the time to consider the goal, cost and effectiveness of your
company’s holiday greetings. Having your greeting card stand
apart, be seen and talked about can bring positive attention to
your company and add profit to your own bottom line. A big THANK
YOU to all my ENX readers. I wish you happiness and profitability
throughout the year.
Ronelle Ingram, author of Service With A Smile, also teaches
service seminars. She can be reached at
ronellei@msn.com
