What Have You Done Lately To Stay In Touch
With Clients, Customers, and Colleagues?
This Simple System Cuts Through the Electronic Chatter
and Helps You Make a Personal Connection
When you want to connect with another person these days, you probably contact them by email. Why on earth would anyone consider using "snail mail" instead?
Why? Because there IS so much email. Too much! We all spend time every day sifting through our Inbox looking for legitimate emails from our contacts. With this kind of pressure to keep up with email, how likely is YOUR email to be given more attention by your clients and colleagues than any other legitimate email? If you're trying to make a distinct impression through email, you've got a LOT of competition.
Personal correspondence can have an impact on your recipient, especially if they're not expecting it. More than that, there are good business reasons for using offline correspondence to stay in touch.
Hi, I'm Toolie®: a speaker, author, consultant, photographer, and Internet marketer. I am entrepreneur with a small business, and I've found SendOutCards to be invaluable as a follow-up strategy that has a personal touch.
The Impulse to Connect with Others
You probably think about connecting with clients and customers every day -- doing something special, perhaps finding some way to make a good impression.
Email is fine for everyday correspondence. If your business is anything like mine, you depend on it! But what about the times when you want to really gain your clients' attention? What else can you do to show that you are thinking about them?
Offline correspondence is a great way to capture their interest. Since using email is so easy, not many small businesses think about making a little extra effort to send personal correspondence. Perhaps one of the following thoughts has crossed YOUR mind...
- You think about sending a card but it's not convenient.
"Oh yes, a greeting card or a postcard might be nice. I'll drop everything, run to the store, stand in the greeting card aisle, and buy a card just for them." Not likely! Time is money. Even if you have an assistant, he or she may or may not be able to find a card with just the right sentiment.
- You already have greeting cards, but not the ones you need.
I have lost track of the number of ways I've tried to keep greeting cards on hand. I used to order them from a catalog -- I even had a special box with dividers so that I could quickly find them. I have to admit that I still have some of those cards -- they're kind of yellow now, no longer usable. Where is your stash of old cards?
- It would be fun to create a card but it takes too long.
Some people enjoy creating and printing cards from their computer -- I've done it too, but that was before I became an entrepreneur! Add in the time required to address them and put stamps on them, and sending correspondence that way just doesn't seem worth the effort. I gave up on printing my own greeting cards years ago.
- You don't send enough cards of one type to use an online bulk mailer.
There are a number of online services you can use to mail postcards, but many of them have high minimums, and you can't customize anything except the address. That's not exactly a personal connection!
These are all legitimate excuses! But deep down, you know that some form of personal connection makes a difference every time.
Networking Means Staying in Touch
Colleagues and fellow professionals can be a good source of referrals, but only if you stay "top of mind." You need to implement a specific strategy for identifying your most valuable sources and staying in touch with them.
If you have a newsletter or shopping cart system, you can send pre-scheduled emails, but that becomes just one more email in their Inbox. If you really want to get and keep their attention, you need to do a little more.
Sending Cards for No Particular Reason
When was the last time you sent someone a card for no particular reason (which is of course the best reason of all)? Did that card make someone's day? I bet they told you so. It felt good, didn't it?
I travel a lot, which means I'm away from loved ones. Staying in touch when I'm on the road could mean more than just the daily phone call. If I thought of it, I could send a card -- not just the local postcard, but something meaningful to let those at home know I am thinking of them.
SendOutCards -- Online Ease-of-Use with a Personal Touch
The SendOutCards system is the online greeting card shop and contact management system I've dreamed about! With 10,000 cards to choose from, you'll probably find the card you need every time. If you like the front of one of their cards but want a different sentiment (inside message), you can override the text of most cards and put in your own words.
The SendOutCards design team can take your logos, graphics, and text, and create custom cards for you. Or if you want to create your own, selecting a plan than includes Picture Plus means you can upload your own designs.
SendOutCards provides a number of different fonts you can use in your cards, but you can use your own handwriting font if you like. Simply select a plan that includes the creation of your handwriting font plus up to 4 signatures (different styles like first name only, full name, etc.), or purchase the handwriting font package separately.
Manage That Special Group of Contacts
SendOutCards is the perfect way to keep in touch with that key group of clients and colleagues. SendOutCards lets you cut through the electronic chatter and make a personal connection. You can create marketing or communication "campaigns" using postcards or greeting cards, then select any number of contacts to receive them. You can even have multiple cards per campaign. It doesn't matter whether you send one card or 1,000 -- there's no minimum number of cards required to send a bulk mailing.
You can upload your own contacts list (including birthdays and anniversaries) and receive emailed reminders in advance so that you never miss a special occasion. If you like, you can even send gifts, gift cards, or gift checks
with your cards, selecting them and scheduling them in advance if you want.
SendOutCards Means Quality Too
The FIRST question I asked before I signed up for SendOutCards was "how good are these cards?" I even asked them to look up the type of cardstock they use, which they did. Then they encouraged me to sign up for a Guest Account and send myself some cards, which I did. All I had to see was the quality of the cards, and I was hooked.
I like this system so much that I've made it possible for YOU to have a Guest Account and to send yourself a card. In fact, send one to yourself AND to a friend (make their day, remember?). See for yourself how easy it is to stay in touch through SendOutCards.
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