Instead of Christmas Cards

There’s nothing wrong with sending Christmas cards to your clients. Unless it comes from the corporate office with just the company name embossed on the inside. That says you care almost as much as a label on the envelope that reads “CEO” above their address.

If you do send cards out, please put some kind of personal message on the inside and sign it.

But, instead of cards, consider this: How about a Christmas letter? Not the single-spaced 3-pager you get from your cousin describing every event that happened to them that year in excruciating detail. (Those should be ritualistically burned in the Yule log fireplace.)

No, this is a letter about them, about your relationship, and about what they accomplished.

If you manage 30 clients, even a short letter could take a really long time to do. However, using a template, you could send out a short, customized letter without starting from scratch and without gobbling up days of effort.

Here’s the process:

1. Prioritize your list of clients (if you have 30 clients and you’re super-busy, maybe only your top 10 get a letter)
   
   
2. For each client, list 3-5 positive things that occurred or that they achieved this past year. It could be revenue growth, a new CEO, installation of new software, a successful conversion, a successful marketing campaign, great teamwork between your companies on a project, etc.
   
   
3. Make a list of holiday words. Here are a few: joy, merry, happy, holiday, family, carols, Santa, reindeer, gifts, giving, hope, Rudolph, candy cane, bright, Scrooge, Grinch, believe, milk & cookies.
   
   
4. To customize the letter for each client without having to reinvent the wheel, match those things that stood out (#2) with holiday words from #3. For example, “We were all so happy for you seeing the success of your ___ campaign.”
   
   
5. Highlight the holiday words in the letter (make them bigger or red or green, & use bold, italics or underline).
   
   
6. Close with how you look forward to another year of success together.

Corny? Yep. Silly? Sure. Memorable? You bet.

Merry Christmas!