Do I Know You?

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I am not suggesting that you send cards out to completely random strangers, however, if you happen to meet someone, even if it is brief, why not send them a quick greeting card?

It is as easy as asking someone for their business card. Once you have their details, make a mental note of something funny or interesting that you talked about and send them a quick card telling them that it was nice to meet them.

Sometimes you may go to a Cafe or a restaurant and find that the service was really good, or a taxi driver that went out of his way to be helpful. Everyday when you are out and about on your travels, you will find someone that you can show your appreciation to.

Random acts of kindness has been popular for some time now, I like to practice random acts of sending thank you cards. Try sending one thank you card a week to a person you have meet on your travels and see what a difference it will make in your life…

Popularity: 82% [?]

Does Just Saying Thank You Make a Difference?

There is something special about getting a thank you card. There is a certain permanence that allows the person to go back and re-read your words of appreciation and gratitude.

When you put your picture in a card with a heart felt message of appreciation, you can feel sure that your message is going to have more durability than when you just express your feelings through speech alone.

I find that every time I send a thank you card, the person will call me to say thank you. This opens up another opportunity to express my feelings through speech.

This site is all about “spreading an attitude to gratitude” and this area of the site is a collection of stories about how a few simple kinds words can have a great impact on someones life.

A story that immediately comes to mind is one that the CEO of my greeting card company tells. He is a prolific card sender and one day he had a prompting to send a card to the lady who plays the music at his church.

The following Sunday she pulled Cody aside and burst into tears. She had been feeling depressed and unappreciated in life and was on the verge of quiting her role of playing music in the church. On the day when her feelings were very low, she received Cody’s heart felt card of thanks in her mailbox. He let her know just how much her music meant to him and how much he appreciated the fact her music lifted his spirits every time he heard it.

That was all she needed to hear and she instantly remembered why she played music in the first place. So can a card change a person’s life? Well we will never know what would have happened if that dear lady did give playing the music, but one thing is for sure, it helped her through a tough patch.

Who knows why all of a sudden we have a promoting to tell someone we care; where these promptings come from is sometimes a mystery. The most important thing is we act when we feel a prompting to share a kind feeling…

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Straight From The Horses Mouth

Referrals are the best business you can ever get. A person that has been referred has had the best possible sales message delivered, straight from the horse’s mouth…a trusted friend.

There are a couple of advantages to gaining referrals in your business, perhaps the most obvious is the fact that it didn’t cost you anything in advertising to get a business lead that comes through a referral.

Business expenses can be divided into two main categories;

1. Fixed expenses

2. Non-fixed

The fixed expenses are the things such as Internet connection, office space rental, phone connection etc. These expenses are reliably the same month in and month out. The non-fixed expenses are the ones that can vary depending on your activities. These are usually the expenses that are directly related to your profit margins.

Once you have covered your fixed expenses, it is a matter of how much you spend in getting and keeping customers that is going to effect your profits. The more effective you are in this area, the better your profits.

This is the reason why referrals are the best business leads you can ever have. Iit doesn’t cost you a single cent to get these customers and so on a individual basis, the value of these customers is extremely high.

Pre-Sold Customers

The wonderful thing about gaining referrals is that they are have already been sold on your product or service by the best possible salesperson on earth…a trusted friend! They have heard it straight from the horses mouth and so there is little or no doubt in their mind that they need, want, and can afford your product by the time they get to you.

I run an acupuncture clinic and I have never advertised, ever! When I moved to town, my very first patient was a referring machine. I have had more referrals from her than any single person.

People who call my clinic for an appointment don’t even ask any questions, they simply make an appointment. Their friends have already told them where I am, how much it will cost, and how long a treatment will take. Quite often the patient also has been educated that it will take a number of treatments to get the required results.

I remember when an acupuncture teacher of mine did a T.V show as a promo for his clinic, it was the worst possible publicity. We were spending a lot more time on the phone talking with people; they wanted to know, how long, how much, how do I get there, when will I be cured etc. It was an absolute nightmare!

How to Get Referrals

It is actually easier than you think. I do nothing except offer an excellent service, that is it. I never even solicit referrals but, I am always sure to thank people when they do refer someone. The 80/20 rule that is spoken of in business is absolutely true. I find that out of all of my patients, there would be at the most, only 20% that are consistant referrers. I know exactly who these people are and so I make an extra effort to fit these people in if they are in a pinch and I do the same for the people that they refer. This is an unspoken rule but there is a tacit understanding between me and my patients in regard to this.

One way I thank people is by sending them a card and thanking them for the referral. Just sending regular cards to clients is a powerful strategy on it’s own. One of the most successful salesman of all time, Tom Hopkins, used this method with phenomenal success. He was a realestate salesman and he would send personal thank you notes to customers every single day (not the same ones obviously).

If you are in realestate for example, sending a greeting card to a client every month or few months will keep you in the forefront of your clients mind. This way, when a friend of your clients mentions to them that they are in the market to buy a house, you are the first person that comes into their mind.

The other powerful thing that happens when you send a greeting card with your and or your clients photo on the inside of it is, a reluctance to throw it away. More often than not, it will become a topic of discussion when it is seen on the kitchen bench or on the refrigerator door.

Many realestate agents are using this method and finding it very powerful indeed. My advice for them is to take pictures of the client in front of their house with your sold sign on it. Perhaps take some pictures of them in the new house that you helped them find. It would then take you about 15 minutes to upload them to the card server, add a catchy slogan and preset the cards to go out every few months for the next year or even 2.

There is no doubt that this will increase you referrals…

Popularity: 84% [?]

A Little Bit of Appreciation Goes a Long Way

What is the top ingredient in any successful business? Happy, returning customers.

It is a pretty simple statement but when we stop and consider it, without our customers, we don’t have a business at all. With the speed at which information is exchanged on the Internet these days, acquiring customers is as hard as it has ever been.

Some businesses seem to spend most of their time, effort, and money on continually acquiring new customers and pay little or no attention to their existing customers.

One very powerful way of following up with your customers is sending them a personal thank you card for their business. The card should not make any extra offers just a plain and simple thank you card.

If your product is a repeat use product, then following up just before the customer is due to run out of that product is an excellent idea. There is no need to tell them that they need to order again, simply give them a helpful snippet of information about the product or some good advice about the use of the product will suffice.

Let’s take a nutritional product for example, in my experience perhaps the biggest problem is, people just stop taking things; they get busy and put it to the back of the pantry and forget about it. Sending a follow-up card in the mail a few weeks after the person has purchased from you can be very effective.

Remind the person why they purchased your product in the first place and give them some helpful tips to remind them about correct use of the product. At the end of the card, thank them for their business and let them know you are available should they have any questions.

When you sit down and figure out how much time, effort, and money goes into getting new customers, you will most likely be quite shocked. A greeting card with your own handwriting font, your logo, and a personal picture on the inside will cost you $1.34. If you wanted to do it on an even smaller budget, you could send a card for $0.72. This would be more basic but would still have your signature in it. These are high quality cards, in an envelope, and with a first class stamp.

How much do you think it would cost to get a business lead? This is a person that has not even committed to buying your product, a prospective customer. It is a lot more than $1.34, that is for sure!

Having a system in place where you send out a card to your existing customers once a month every month will make a huge difference to your customer relations and ultimately your bottom line.

There have been studies done on where most business spend their money and time, it is quite surprising. Just knowing this could give you a very handy edge over your competitors, you can read more about that here…

Popularity: 86% [?]

Love Your Work

How often do people in your work place make your life easier? Have you ever felt unappreciated for the work that you do? A simple thank you card sent to work colleagues to acknowledge their efforts will go a long way in the office.

I work in a marketing team that is scattered across the globe, literally.  I use greeting cards to thank people for their help; encourage people when they are feeling low;  recognize milestones in their career; or congratulate them on a birthday, anniversary, wedding or birth. There are so many reasons to send colleagues cards and then of course you can send one just because.

You will find if you make this a regular practice you will have better relations and get more done as a team. It is so simple to do, yet the good effects are quite profound.

Why not become a card sender today?

Popularity: 87% [?]

What Are Friends For?

You can only see a bit of this picture; this is me getting a fishing lure out of a good friends backside. It was quite a humorous moment. Fortunately my other friend happened to have the camera handy and so we were able to get a snap shot of the biggest hook up of the weekend!

Fishing trips for me are always a chance to get away with some good friends and talk about everything under the sun. On this particular fishing trip I had a few problems that I was working out and so it was really great to have my close friends around at that time.

I sent the guy whose backside has the hook in it, this card with a heart felt message of thanks on the inside. On the left inside cover of the card I put a picture of me holding undoubtedly the best catch of the weekend. I put a funny slogan at the top of the picture;

“now that is how you catch a fish”

It is quite easy to send a card with your and your friends picture on it.  It is always fun to do and rarely goes unappreciated.
become a card sender today…

Popularity: 81% [?]

Appreciating Family

In the busy world that we live in, it is such a nice thing to take a moment to acknowledge and appreciate the people that are closest to us. I often send greeting cards to thank family members for all sorts of things. It can be as simple as making the effort they made to come and visit, a call, or a gift that I have received for a special occasion.

I like to use my digital camera and capture the moment. If we are out at the park playing or having a BBQ, I will take a photo and then surprise them by turning the photo into a great card and sending it in the mail. Sending a thank you card is such an easy thing to do and being able to quickly turn a photo into a card means that I always have just the right card for every occasion.

A while ago, I went to the aquarium with my sister and her two boys. We had a great day out and saw many exciting things. I sent my 5 year old nephew a card with him on the front cover, standing in front of some big sharks that he was looking at. It was a nice way to thank him for a great weekend and also remind him of the great time we had together.

You will see him standing there looking at the sharks and other fish. I simply put the guess who caption on the photo and put some other great photos of our weekend on the inside of the card. You can imagine the excitement of a 5 year to get a card in the mail, and then to open it and see yourself on the front cover…what a hoot!

When he got the card he called to say thank you and we had a great chat about the time we spent in Sydney at the zoo and the aquarium.

The reason the greeting card company I work for came into existence was because of an accident that killed the CEO’s brother. He was busy moving house and felt an urge to contact his brother but he let it pass because he had too many other things to do at the time. His bother was killed soon after and he didn’t ever get to tell him that he appreciated and loved him.

The result of this tragedy was a greeting card company that allows people to act on a prompting by sending a physical card in the mail with the convenience of being able to browse from a huge collection of cards online, type in your message, and hit the send button. Within a few working days the person has a top quality card, in an envelope, with a first class stamp on it. This is at a cost surprisingly less than what it actually costs to buy a standard greeting card.

This makes it so easy to thank the people that are closest to you, even if you are physically a long way away. The ability to upload your own photos makes these thank you cards just that little bit extra special.

Give it a try, you will be surprised by the response.

Become a card sender today…

Popularity: 83% [?]

Strengthening Customer Relationships

Customers are the life blood in any business. When you sit down and crunch the figures, in most cases it will cost a lot more money to acquire a first time customer than it does to keep one happy and satisfied by good customer relations stratergies.

Once you have acquired a customer to have them buy off you again and again makes perfect business sense.

Many big companies will happily take a loss of the first sale because they understand the value of a customer once they have them in their system. Customer Management stratergies are very important in order to avoid customer leakage.

The old adage;

“The Fortune is in the follow up”,

should not be taken to lightly, unless you want to leave money on the table that is.

Here are some pretty scary business stats:

• 79% of all leads generated at trade shows aren’t followed up.

• The average company loses 50% of its customers every 5 years…the cost of replacing them can be 6-7 times more expensive.

• A 5% increase in customer loyalty will add 20%-80% to your bottom line profit…it is much wiser to spend money on customer retention than acquisition.

• For every month that you don’t contact or communicate with your clients, you lose 10% of your influence.

• 82% of all homeowners can’t tell you the name of their Realtor if they bought their home more than two years ago.

• Just saying thank you to your clients…particularly new clients, can increase your business by 17%.

• Only 3% of our mail is personal…how do you feel when you walk out to the mail box and see a personal card addressed to you? Your clients/prospects are no different.

To most business owners who spend any amount of money on advertising to acquire customers, these statistics may be a little frightening. The problem of customers falling off your customer list as fast as you can add them is not such a difficult one to solve. The answer lies in consistent contact and a attitude of gratitude.

Send A Thank You Card and Show Your Customers That You Appreciate Their Business

Two Powerful Words - Thank You

The very simple act of sending a thank you card to your customers to let them know that you appreciate their business will yield results that you will find totally surprising.

Using my system, keeping in touch with your customers and letting them know that you appreciate them has never been easier. Sending personalized thank you cards; thanking customers for their business; thanking them for referrals they have sent you; or just sending a card to keep in touch during holiday seasons is as easy as clicking the mouse.

Allow Me To Create You a Custom Thank You Card Unique to You and Your Business

I will custom design a card for you and send it directly to your office so that you can inspect the quality before you send it off to a customer of your choosing. The card will;

• Come in a real envelope

• With a first class stamp

• With the option to add your picture, company logo, and your signature

• With a message of your choice

If the customer doesn’t contact and thank you for sending them such a great card, I will insist you send a 2nd card at my expense.

*We respect your privacy, your details will never be, shared, sold, or rented.

Popularity: 93% [?]

What a Wonderful World

What a wonderful world it is that we live in! Even on the grimmest of days, we don’t have to look far to find something or someone to be grateful for.

“It may be a dear friend that just called to say hi, a stranger that lent a helping hand as they passed by, a glorious blue sunny day, a colorful bird that made your troubles drift away.

Perhaps it was the cool crisp water of a mountain stream, or someone who encouraged your eternal dream.

Thankful for that day thats been, thankful for the day unseen, thankful each day before you start, the feeling of gratitude is what unlocks the heart”

One of the greatest things about showing appreciation is the joy of seeing other people receive acknowledgment for their efforts. Everyone needs to feel recognized, whether you do it with words, a gift, a reciprocal act of kindness, or just a warm smile. Showing people that you recognize them for their good qualities gives you and them a great feeling.

I started this site by committing to send 2 thank you cards each and everyday. As time went on, it was getting harder and harder to find people to thank but, somehow I managed. The practice of looking out for people to thank is a really good one. The more you do it, the easier it is. How many people have you thanked today?

Popularity: 87% [?]

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Popularity: 10% [?]