Following up on your company Christmas cards

Handwritten holiday card image courtesy of Write On Results 

By now, you've probably ordered, signed and addressed your company Christmas cards. Good job! (What? You haven't? Do it today, people!)

So once those cards arrive from the printer and the envelopes are addressed (remember, no labels! Hand address them,) you're done, right? You can just stuff those cards into the envelopes and let the postage machine do it's thing.

NO!!!

Now is the time to review....

1)Hand address those cards. Yes, it's a pain. And yes, it matters. So get out those nice gel writers and get everyone with really nice handwriting addressing those company Christmas cards!

2)Write a personal note in every card addressed to someone who matters. What? Everyone you're sending a card to matters? Then stock up on the hot chocolate and get busy. A personal note, especially one that references some business the customer or client had with the company scores big in the "Standing out from Crowd" department. And that is WHY you're sending cards in the first place. Just make sure that if you farm this task out to others in the company, you assign them by gender. Women and men write differently, so a note supposedly penned by Sarah Goodman should not look like it was written by Josh or Dave.

3)Sign 'em. While you're writing, sign it. First name, first and last, first-last-and-title...your choice. Just add your John Hancock there, even if you've had a signature printed. Again, a pain, but one that pays off.

4) Watch for returns. If a card comes back with an address correction, pull out another envelope and resend to the new address. If it just says something like "Forwarding Order Expired", do some research and try and find a new address. A note that I should NOT have to write but do because I have SEEN this...if the card has been damaged, bent, torn or mangled in the first round, WRITE A NEW CARD! No one will believe it's the Post Office's fault when the envelope arrives in perfect shape and the card inside looks chewed.

And one more thing, update your address database as you resend these cards.

5) If you sent a coupon or special offer, track the results. There is no use sending offers in your company Christmas card if you don't know what works and what doesn't. Hopefully, unless you have a tried and true offer, you did some testing with different coupons to different people. Keep track and use that info to improve future mailings.