A Little Touch of KindnessBeing kind is important in business networking as well as in life. Build customer loyalty with wholesale greeting cards from Send Out Cards

I don’t think there is any other time of the year when we feel more like giving than right now, in the month of December. We’re making our lists of customers, clients, neighbors friends and family. All those people whom we want to remember and show our appreciation to. Even though times are  tough we still want to show that we think of those who mean something to us.

It’s the holidays. Forgotten is the doom and gloom of November and the struggles we had all year long. Our hearts are open. We’re happy. We’re smiling….And then realitiy sets in. Oh dear! Looking at our list of people we realize there’s way to many to send cards to. We start sorting and scratching off people even before we headed to the store. Then standing there in front of endless racks of cards that don’t say what we really want to say, we get frustrated because we can’t find the right card.  And gosh, look at these prices!

That was me until a year ago. Sounds familiar? Then I found SendOutCards. Watch the video below and find out how I solved my Long-Christmas-Card-List problem.

Then visit my website at www.SendThemASmile.com and send out a couple of FREE Greeting Cards (on me) to experience this incredible system first hand for yourself.

Happy Holidays!

I know it has happened to me in the past. Maybe it has happened to you at some point as well? In our busy fast-paced world it is easy to loose track of our customers, clients, well even friends and family members for that matter. We have every intention to keep in contact and want to give the best customer service, but we just get so wrapped up in the happenings of every-day life. We may be thinking of getting in touch with a customer one moment and in the next get interupted by a phone call or email and the ‘prompting’ is lost forever… or at least until we think about that person again sometime down the road.

When I found SendOutCards my life became much easier. SendOutCards makes staying in touch with my customers as easy as sending an e-mail, but as personal as sending a handwritten card. I can choose from 15,000 cards to find just the right one for the occasion, or I can make my own using SendOutCards Picture Plus feature. (I used this feature here to make a very special thank-you note for one of my customers.) No more running to the store and picking out a card. No more searching through drawers for the right postage stamp. No more walking out to the mailbox in bad weather to mail it. SendOutCards does it all for me. I pick the perfect card from the Card Catalog, type my personal message and click send. The elfes at SendOutCards print the card in my own handwriting and with my own signature. Stuff it into an envelope. Lick the stamp and put it in the mailbox.

That “Personal Touch” is so important, especially in this time and age where impersonal e-mails seem to have become the norm and the quick way of staying in touch. Just think how your customers or clients will feel if you remembered their birthday. They walk to their mailbox and there among all of the bills and advertisements is that handwritten card from you. (Btw. you can even include a gift with your card.)  Whom do you think they will remember the next time they’ll need your kind of products or service? SendOutCards’ Contact Manager makes it easy to keep in touch with customers, clients, friends and family. Never again forget a birthday or anniversary or that special occasion.

Try it out for yourself. Just visit my website. Click on the red banner that says “Click to Send a FREE Card.” Select the greeting card you want to send from the card catalog, type your message, upload an image and click “Send Card.” Tada! You’ve just sent your very first card. (Here is a video you can watch beforehand that will show you how to send a card.)

Pretty simple, huh? And fun! And pretty easy on the budget as well. You can send a greeting card for as low as 62 cents plus postage. That’s very reasonable considering that the average greeting card costs between $2 and $4 according to the Greeting Card Association. You can also send a postcard for as little as 31 cents (plus postage.)

Well, enjoy sending out your FREE greeting card, and please don’t forget to leave me your comments below.

Say “Thank You” with Style
How to Write a Thank-You Note

Think about it. Everyone likes to hear the words “thank you” once in a while. But in our fast-paced, super-connected world handwritten notes of thanks are in danger of becoming a thing of the past. So don’t let your busy lifestyle get in the way of good manners. Thank-you notes don’t have to be a burden. They can be fun, sometimes for the whole family. Thank-you notes are an age-old way of keeping communication between friends and family open and healthy. Here are some tips on how to thanks quickly and creatively:

1. Do it yourself. Forgo the pre-inscribed cards with “Thank You” printed inside. Choose some nice, plain notecards or paper to show genuine gratitude.
2. Set aside enough time to write. You don’t want to rush through a thank-you note, as ti’s meant to be an expression from the heart.
3. Get personal. In your note, be sure to use the name of the person who gave you the gift or helped you out.
4. Mention something you liked about the gift or gesture or tell the person how you plan to use it or how it helped you.
5. Include the kids. Encourage children to draw a thank-you picture or sign their own cards. It’s never too early to set a good example.

Source: “Success From Home” magazine October 2009 issue

Harvey Mackay, tells a wonderful story about a cab driver who provided outstanding customer service.

He was waiting in line for a ride at the airport. When a cab pulled up, the first thing Harvey noticed was that the taxi was polished to a bright shine. Smartly dressed in a white shirt, black tie, and freshly pressed black slacks, the cab driver jumped out and rounded the car to open the back passenger door for Harvey .

He handed my friend a laminated card and said: ‘I’m Wally, your driver.. While I’m loading your bags in the trunk I’d like you to read my mission statement.’

Taken aback, Harvey read the card.

It said: Wally’s Mission Statement:
To get my customers to their destination in the quickest, safest and cheapest way possible in a friendly environment.

This blew Harvey away. Especially when he noticed that the inside of the  cab matched the outside. Spotlessly clean!

As he slid behind the wheel, Wally said, ‘Would you like a cup of coffee? I have a thermos of regular and one of decaf.’

My friend said jokingly, ‘No, I’d prefer a soft drink.’

Wally smiled and said, ‘No problem. I have a cooler up front with regular and Diet Coke, water and orange juice.’

Almost stuttering, Harvey said, ‘I’ll take a Diet Coke.’

Handing him his drink, Wally said, ‘If you’d like something to read, I have The Wall Street Journal, Time, Sports Illustrated and USA Today.’

As they were pulling away, Wally handed my friend another laminated card, ‘These are the stations I get and the music they play, if you’d like to listen to the radio.’

And as if that weren’t enough, Wally told Harvey that he had the air conditioning on and asked if the temperature was comfortable for him.

Then he advised Harvey of the best route to his destination for that time of day. He also let him know that he’d be happy to chat and tell him about some of the sights or, if Harvey preferred, to leave him with his own thoughts.

‘Tell me, Wally,’ my amazed friend asked the driver, ‘have you always served  customers like this?’

Wally smiled into the rear view mirror. ‘No, not always. In fact, it’s only been in the last two years. My first five years driving, I spent most of my time complaining like all the rest of the cabbies do. Then I heard on the radio one day that if you get up in the morning expecting to have a bad  day, you’ll rarely disappoint yourself. He said, ‘Stop complaining!  Differentiate yourself from your competition. Don’t be a duck. Be an eagle. Ducks quack and complain. Eagles soar above the crowd.”

That hit me right between the eyes,’ said Wally. ‘That was really talking about me. I was always quacking and complaining, so I decided to change my attitude and become an eagle. I looked around at the other cabs and their drivers.. The cabs were dirty, the drivers were unfriendly, and the customers were unhappy. So I decided to make some changes. I put in a few at a time. When my customers responded well, I did more.’

‘I take it that has paid off for you,’ Harvey said.

‘It sure has,’ Wally replied. ‘My first year as an eagle, I doubled my income from the previous year. This year I’ll probably quadruple it.  You were lucky to get me today. I don’t sit at cabstands anymore. My customers call me for appointments on my cell phone or leave a message on my answering machine. If I can’t pick them up myself, I get a reliable cabbie friend to do it and I take a piece of the action.’

Wally was phenomenal. He was running a limo service out of a Yellow Cab.
I’ve probably told that story to more than fifty cab drivers over the years, and only two took the idea and ran with it. Whenever I go to their cities, I give them a call. The rest of the drivers quacked like ducks and told me all the reasons they couldn’t do any of what I was suggesting.

Wally the Cab Driver made a different choice. He decided to stop quacking like ducks and start soaring like eagles..

How about us?

Smile, and the whole world smiles with you… The ball is in our hands!

Ducks Quack, Eagles Soar

This story landed in my inbox a couple of days ago and I just had to write about it today. It seems, although we all are so very busy with our lives and don’t seem to care, customer appreciation is still very much alive. Especially in our small towns.

Read this heart-warming story…

The Richest Man in Town

CHAPTER ONE
The Handshake

It’s amazing what can happen just by paying attention. Besides, I never thought I would have a life-changing experience at Wal-Mart.

I don’t remember the exact date I met Marty for the first time. Up to that moment, nothing that day seemed particularly important – certainly not what brought me to the store in the first place. Like a lot of people who want to get through a checkout line, my thoughts were on speed, nothing more. The line I was standing in wasn’t moving as quickly as I wanted, and I glanced toward the cashier.

There stood and affable-looking man in his seventies. Slightly stooped and of average build, he wore glasses and a nice smile. I thought, well, he’s an old guy and it probably takes him a little longer to get the chores done.

For the next few minutes I watched him. He greeted every customer before he began scanning the items they were purchasing. Sure, his words were the usual, “How’s it going?”  But he did something different – he actually listened to people. Then he would respond to what they had said and engage them in brief conversation.

I thought it was odd, but I guess I had grown accustomed to people asking me how I was doing simply out of a robotic conversational habit. After a while, you don’t give any thought to the question and just mumble something back. I could say, “I just found out I have six months to live,” and someone would reply, “Have a great day!”

This old cashier had my attention. He seemed genuine about wanting to know how people were feeling. Meanwhile, the high-tech cash register rang up their purchases and he announced what they owed. Customers handed money to him, he punched the appropriate keys, the cash drawer popped open, and he counted out their change.

Then magic happened.

He placed the change in his left hand, walked around the counter to the customer, and extended his right hand in an act of friendship.

As their hands met, the old cashier looked the customers in the eyes. “I sure want to thank you for shopping here today,” he told them. “You have a great day. Bye-bye.”

The looks on the faces of the customers were priceless. There were smiles and some sheepish grins. All had been touched by this simple gesture – and in a place they never expected.

Some customers would walk away, pause for a moment, and look back at the old cashier, now busy with the next customer. It was obvious they couldn’t quite comprehend what had just happened.  They would gather their things and walk out the door, smiling.

Now it was my turn. As I expected, he asked me how I was doing. I told him I was having a good day.

“That’s good,” he said. “I’m having a good day, too.” I glanced down at the name tag on his red vest, the kind experienced Wal-Mart cashiers wore. It read, “Marty.”

I said, “It looks like you enjoy your job, Marty. “He replied, “I love my job.” Marty told me how much I owed and I handed him some money. The next thing I knew he was standing beside me, offering his right hand and holding my change in his left hand. His kind eyes locked onto mine. Smiling, and with a firm handshake, he said, “I sure want to thank you for shopping here today. Have a great day. Bye-bye.”

At that moment I wanted to take him home and feed him cookies. It was as if Sam Walton had come back from the dead and invaded this old guy’s body.

I left the store, walked through the parking lot and got into my car. On the drive home I couldn’t shake what had just happened. I had been in that store a hundred times and had never walked away feeling like that.

Who was that guy?

He did something different – he actually listened to people.

Click here to watch the 3 minute DVD movie: “The Richest Man in Town”

And if you liked the story, please share it with your friends and leave me your comments

A little touch of kindness goes a long ways. So does a nice gesture. A piece of chocolate. A brownie or cookies.  Have you ever noticed the dish of candy in some professional offices? It’s not for the employees (although they might enjoy it too).  It’s for the clients. There’s something about chocolate that gets us into a good mood. I’ve never seen a person eating chocolate and being crumpy at the same time.  Maybe before, but not after putting that delicious treat in their mouth. And when we are in a good mood we are more likely to buy something, agree with or do business with someone.

Gail was a freelance graphic designer with the typical self-employed person’s problems:
lots of work, but little money coming in. Although her business was brisk and her billings
were high, her clients simply weren’t paying their bills. “My money seemed stuck in their
bank accounts, ” says Gail. Gail tried a number of tactics to convince her creditors to
pay – from letters that said “Please pay soon” festooned with smiley faces to diplomatic
phone calls – but nothing worked.  Desperate, she stumbled on what turned out to be a
brilliantly effective idea: bribing them with baked goods. “I would send out reminders
of past-due invoices with the enticement that if paid by a specified date, I would reward
the client with fresh baked cookies, brownies, cake – whatever they wanted. And it worked.

From The Power of Nice…Let ‘Em Eat Cake, by Linda Kaplan Thaler and Robin Koval, pp 31

They say, “you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.” Or in this case with cookies and brownies.

Another example, my husband, who’s in the mortgage industry needed a loan closed before the holidays last December.  As we all know, things move very, very  slow right before the holidays. To expedite the loan, he send a box of cookies to the underwriter and what normally would have taken 2 – 3 weeks was done in just a few days.

Sweeten the deal!!

My mother-in-law who is going to be 85 this month lives in a small town, 17,000,  in Oklahoma.  After several heart attacks, she is very frail.  She still lives by herself and manages quite well. This morning when she was feeding her lab, Isabelle, she noticed a large tick on her eyelid.  Knowing that she couldn’t remove the tick by herself, she loaded Isabelle in the car and drove about 12 miles to the vet in the next town.  Mind you, it has been extremely hot in Oklahoma so even mornings are quite warm.

It took 3 people to hold Isabelle down to remove the tick.  When my mother-in-law asked what she owed for the service she was told, “Nothing.” The staff asked if she drove herself and when they found out that indeed she had, they offered to drive her home.  Two staff members went out of their way to drive her back home in her own car, which meant one was following to take the driver back to the vet clinic.  Free care and being chaffeured.  Now that is customer service!

Of course my mother-in-law will be sending a nice “Thank You” note.  Most people would stop there.  However, she is taking it even a step  further.  She is going to send a letter to the Editor of the local newspaper to have this great news story  about this extraordinary customer care published.  This is a win-win situation for everyone. My mother-in-law and Isabelle got back home safely…and the vet clinic will get great publicity.

The vet clinic did this out of the goodness of their hearts.  Whenever you give from the heart to someone without expecting anything in return, that is “true” giving.   Whether you receive your reward on earth or not, that is not important.  The simple act of giving is contagious and will make the world a better place for all.

I challenge you to give from your heart today without expecting anything in return.  Let’s spread goodness and joy in our world.

I found this posted on Ivan Misner’s blog a couple of weeks ago. Since I thougth it was very powerful I wanted to post it here to share with all of you. So I sought the author’s permission to re-post it. Enjoy!

1. Thou Shalt Not Sell To Me. If we’re trying to help one another get more business, you tell me your target market, I tell you my target market and when we are out in the world, we speak well of one another and refer one another. Do not try to sell me–I’m your referral resource. If I need your product or service, know that I will call you.  Use our relationship to sell through me, to get to those 250-plus people I know.
2. Thou Shalt Understand The Law of Reciprocity. If I’m sending you business, please keep me top of mind. Giving me a new client is the best thank you I can receive, and I will continue working to find you referrals if I know you appreciate me.
3. Thou Shalt Not Abuse Our Relationship. Sending me a bogus referral just to use me, my expertise or my resources for free without asking permission first is the fastest way to lose my respect.
4. Thou Shalt Not Be Late . If we have a meeting set to get to know one another and strategize how we can refer each other business, do not reschedule our appointment more than twice. I blocked a chunk of time in my schedule FOR YOU, and I respect you enough to be on time.
5. Thou Shalt Be Specific . Specific Is Terrific! If you tell me your target market is “anybody” or “everybody,” that means nobody to me. The more specific you are, the easier it will be for me to find you business.
6. Thou Shalt Take Your Business Seriously . As your networking partner, I need to know your intentions.If your company is a hobby business, it will be difficult for me to assist you. If it’s part-time, you are limited in the time you spend working on your business and working to find me referrals. However, if you’re working your business part time with a goal of making it full time, I am there for you, 100 percent.
7. Thou Shalt Follow Up On Referrals. When I send you business, please follow up with that prospect in a timely fashion–say 24 hours. If you’re going out of town or will not be available for some time, a quick e-mail or phone call to the person to let them know when you will be available will preserve your credibility and protect my reputation in recommending you to someone I know and care about.
8. Thou Shalt Communicate. If I do something to upset you, send you a “bad” referral or cause you to have ill feelings toward me, please communicate with me as soon as possible. I may not be aware I have caused a problem for you; if you tell me, I can try to fix it. Referral networking is about relationships! Relationships and referrals are at the heart of my business.
9. Thou Shalt Protect My Reputation. Most people would rather die than risk their reputations. If I receive feedback from a referral I have sent you that is disparaging or derogatory, it is as though you cut me off at the knees. Please do what you say you will do and live up to the ethical standards of your profession.
10. Thou Shalt Prepare For Success. If you really want to grow your business, then prepare to receive it. I will move mountains for my networking partners to ensure they get referrals on a consistent basis. I am a Ninja Networker–you may not always see me working on your behalf.

This was posted with permission from Melinda Potcher.
Please visit her website at:  HomeLoansAlbuquerque.com

What is it? What’s the sweetest sound in your customer’s ears? It’s not the words “free” or “special” or “save.” It is his or her own name.

Admit it, you like to hear the sound of your name, right? Well, your customer is not any different. Everyone loves to hear the sound of their name. It has something familiar to it. It has something that resembles trust. If your customer hears you say his or her name, there’s an immediate connection. He or she will immediately bond with you and will listen more intensively and pay attention to what you have to say, because you are addressing THEM directly.

So make sure you are greeting your customers by their name (if possible) and that you use their name often throughout the conversation. As a result you will have a very attentive audience.

“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” _Romeo and Juliet. William Shakespeare

These eye-opening statistics below only confirm why it makes good business sense to use SendOutCards to keep in touch with employees, customers and prospects.

1. Most businesses lose 10-17% of their business every year.
2. 62% of your clients aren’t taking advantage of all your products or services.
3. 91% of our customers say they would give us a referral.
4. 80% haven’t been encouraged to do so!
5. You lose 10% of your influence for every month that you don’t have contact with your client.
6. A 5% increase in customer loyalty could yield 20-80% to your bottom line.
7. Studies show that an average prospect won’t do business with you until they’ve seen or heard from you or your message at least 7 times.
8. 79% of all trade show leads aren’t followed up.
9. 66% of your business within the next year will come from your sphere of influence.
10. Only 3% of the mail we receive is personal.

Of course you won’t know what this system can do for you until you try it out for yourself. So go ahead…send a free greeting card to anyone you chose today. See how easy it is. SendOutCards not only saves you money (at just 0.62 cents a card) it also saves you a lot of time.

• No running to the card store to pick the perfect card.
• No stuffing envelopes
• No rummaging through drawers to find a stamp.
• No running to the mailbox or post office to mail it.
• Send one or a hundred with the click of a button.

Let your customers know you care by remembering their birthdays. Send them a special “Thank You.” Remember them on holidays. Let them know of any upcoming promotions or specials. They will appreciate your thoughtfulness and reward you with their business and bring  you referrals.