Why you should send Christmas cards to clients

This month I plan to correct one of the biggest mistakes I have made since flying solo and send Christmas cards to clients. In the past I didn’t do this, but instead donated the money I would have spent on cards and postage to a charity.

Religiosity aside, Christmas falls at year’s end - a wonderful time of year to thank people. We need to acknowledge the contribution that the people who support our businesses make to our livelihood and, even if we do it throughout the year informally, there is nothing like sending a Christmas card to formally acknowledge your appreciation and to wish them well for the festive season.

Christmas cards should not be about the sender, so I particularly dislike it when organisations use greeting cards as billboards - with logos printed on them, and worse still, printed signatures! Sending Christmas cards should be a gift to the receiver, a thank you for the year you have spent together.

In the past when I didn't send Christmas cards to clients, I used to include a paragraph in my newsletter to let my readers know that I had donated to a charity rather than to Australia Post and my local stationer

But not all my clients read my newsletter. Those who did might think it’s appropriate, but they missed out on hearing that they – as individuals – have been important to me and that I value them. Those who never heard of my donation to charity may just have felt unacknowledged and this is a terrible outcome for me as a human, as well as being bad for business.

Another reason to send Christmas cards is that it provides an opportunity to keep lapsed business relationships alive on a personal level. In writing our Christmas card list we can include everyone we value, not just those who we have worked with this year or who currently subscribe to our newsletter.

How nice it is to have the opportunity to communicate with the designer who moved us into our office three years ago and who, although we may not have a professional need for ever again, we are eternally grateful to?

We can also thank the people at our IT company’s help desk who we have never met or contact clients who we worked for in the past but who are not currently in our loop.

I now see great value in sending Christmas cards to my clients, so I will spend November handwriting hundreds of cards to the people I value and whose contribution to my business, both past, present or indeed future, is appreciated. Email cards just don’t cut it when you consider they should be about the receiver, not about being expedient and low cost to the sender.

If you don’t get a card from me this year, I hope our paths cross next year and if so, you’ll be on next year’s list and those beyond.

Meanwhile, may I wish you peace and goodwill for the time of celebration that is ahead of us.

Karen Morath of M Power consults, trains, speaks and coaches in public relations, personal effectiveness, life balance and all things empowering.

32 comments | Add your own 1 2 3 4 5 | Next» View all»

Thanks for the reminder, Karen. I agree with you one hundred percent. Today I will begin making my Chirstmas card list. And I will get the cards in the post this month. Grant McDuling from Brisbane
Receiving paper rather than a pdf or email would be a shock to many of my clients - best to send cards bought from a universally appreciated charity? Grant Hyman from Sydney | Read my articles
What a great article Karen. I personally do send Christmas cards every year for exactly the reasons you stated above. I also sent a couple of bottles of carefully selected wine last year, one to a customer who has been with me since the beginning and who has always supported me, and one to a copywriter who, since his workload is full, recommends me every time he gets an enquiry he can't take on. I wouldn't advocate sending out bulk gifts as I don't think it's necessary, but for those two last year I felt that a card just wasn't enough to show how much I appreciated their support. Karen Morris from Sydney | Read my articles
What a monumental waste of time, money and resources! I loathe Christmas cards - more often than not they are often sent by people who are not Christian to people who are not Christian either! How can you say "religosity aside" - it's a religious celebration (although it was orginally pagan).
"Wish them well in the festive season?" Not everyone celebrates Christmas - to me it represents MINDLESS consumerism at it's worst and deeply offends me. You wouldn't dream of sending Ramadan cards would you?? Or Happy Hannukah?? What about Chinese New Year....?
Businesses sending me Christmas cards make me realise how little they know or care about my beliefs which is offensive enough! Their cards never touch the sides - they generally go straight in the recycle bin and I ask to be taken off their list. What's worse is the messages are generic and banal too - no real thought in that!
If you want your clients and suppliers know that you sincerely value them, let them know any other time of year, rather than being swept up with the unthinking throngs. A hand written card without 'reason' is meaningful. Sending Christmas cards are the precursor to giving unwanted gifts and The Australia Institute have written an enlightening report on the wastefulness of unwanted gifts http://www.tai.org.au/documents/downloads/WP83.pdf
Christmas truly is the "silly season" . People are put under undue strain - with respect to their finances and their time. These problems can be easily avoided. It would be great if more people were honest about Christmas and only Christians - people who BELIEVE in Jesus Christ (regardless of being practicing or nor)- actually celebrated it. Give the cards a big, fat miss. Lissanne Oliver from Fairfield, VIC | Read my articles
As it happens Lissanne, you weren't on my Christmas card list anyway. It is easy to discount the religiosity of Christmas when you , as I suggest, treat cards as an end of year thank you or hello and don't send religious cards. Like you, I used to think cards were wasteful and that is the point of my article. I now think I was wrong and they have a very real place. I don't think Jesus will mind if I send messages of goodwill in December or June, whatever my beliefs. Karen Morath from Melbourne | Read my articles
Hallo - and I'll make it three Karens who share the same sentiments ... I also like to thank my regular clients with a personal message appreciating their support and wishing them a safe and happy festive season. (I do not send them out to everyone I've had contact with - just the ones I have forged a business relationship with.) For some I might include a little gift - but I really like receiving a personal note from my clients myself, so I try to do the same. I am well aware that Christmas - or the festive season - can be a sad time for many, so I try to add a little cheer without expecting in return. Today my 74 year old mother (also an artist) brought me her completed painting design for her yearly card that I print for her - she shares the same sentiments and sends a little note with her cards to her volunteer colleagues as a thank you to them as well as her friends and family. It seems the more years we have, the more we appreciate the caring that so many show to us. Now, to get back to designing my own card before my mother puts me to shame ... :)
Karen Curran from Springwood NSW

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