5 Reasons to Send Business Christmas Cards

The holiday season will soon be upon us, which means that it's time for businesses to start thinking about Christmas cards. If you've never sent business holiday cards, or don't make a point of sending them out every year, here are five reasons why you should start:

1. Meet Expectations. Although the adage, "It's better to give than to receive," is a sentimental favorite, those with whom you do business expect to be remembered during the holidays. Holiday greeting cards help smooth your business relationships during the rest of the year by meeting expectations during the Christmas season.

2. Improve Customer Relations. Whether you have a business-to-business enterprise, provide a professional service, or own a retail store, chances are that your success is built upon maintaining relationships with your customers and clients. Christmas cards show your customers and clients that you appreciate their business, and that you want to share the spirit of the season.

3. Cost Effective. Perhaps you already buy holiday gifts and remembrances for your best customers or clients, but business holiday cards allow you to reach many more people for relatively little money. You can purchase personalized business holiday cards for as little as $1.40 each, including options to select among many different styles and verses, several colors of ink, and imprinted envelopes. This is an excellent investment in your business.

4. Excellent Return on Investment. Chances are, you and your company receive business Christmas cards from your vendors and suppliers. So, you understand the warm feelings that arise when you read their holiday cards, and you probably experience a "carryover" positive impression when you do your purchasing in the New Year. If you doubt that business holiday cards generate an excellent return on investment, ask yourself this: All other things being equal, which company would you choose to do business with - the company that sent you a holiday card every year or the company that only contacted you when it was time to reorder or collect payment?

5. Limitless Choices. With the rise of Internet and ecommerce, companies have an unprecedented opportunity to select business Christmas cards that reflect their company's image and values. The best online sources for business holiday cards have a wide variety of high quality card designs. In addition, the best online greeting card companies offer a free choice of verse, free coordinated foil-lined envelopes, free samples of Christmas cards, and a multitude of choices for personalization.

In today's business world, you need to take advantage of every opportunity to differentiate your company from your competition. Sending business Christmas cards is a small gesture than can mean improved customer relationships and an excellent return on investment. You really can't afford not to send holiday cards to your customers, clients, and associates.

Christmas Gifts For Business Travellers

Does the person special in your life do a lot of traveling? Business travelers have to while away a lot of hours sitting in planes trains and automobiles. They are burdened down with a lot of luggage and often have to while away the hours in waiting areas.

Here are some great gift ideas for the traveler in your life:

Miniatures - everything & anything, but in a small / miniature size. Perfumes, aftershaves, deodorants & shaving foams all serve to lighten the load for the weary traveler. Miniature bottles of genuine malt whisky and other alcoholic spirits help your travel ling buddy to relax before and after a flight!

Hand Held Playstation - this is great for whiling away the hours whilst waiting patiently for the delayed flight / train. Make sure you include the best shoot and kill games for those who are highly stressed.

Travel & Neck Pillows - these are great for sleeping or relaxing on a long journey. Make sure you include a bottle of therapeutic oils that ease the stress and strains of the rat race. It is definitely worth spending a little more and buying one that stays inflated and lasts for several trips.

Blow up Balls (not dolls!) - These are great for keeping fit whilst stuck in a hotel in the middle of nowhere. It is amazing the range of exercises a keep fit enthusiast can do with just a blow up ball!

Luxury Hot Water Bottle - Ideal for cold nights in under heated hotels.

Grooming Kit - Make sure it has all the essential high quality grooming aids. This way when they return after a long journey they will still look good enough to jump in bed with!

iPod Nano - This is a portable media player that is amazingly small. It can play all their favorite tracks and it can store up to five hours of video and TV shows. This will serve to keep the bored traveler entertained for hours at a time.

Latest Digital Camera - These are now so good… who needs an old fashioned camera with film? Make sure it has a built in flash and a decent memory card.

Sunglasses - Who would not appreciate a pair of designer shades? You need to know your partner really well to figure out which design will suit their face shape without them being present.

Satellite Navigation System - If your partner drives a lot and does not have one of these, then this gift will blow away any doubts that they ever had about you…

Annual Multi-trip Travelers Insurance - If you have been together a long time and romance is no longer an issue… then why not buy them a practical gift? This gift will also serve to ease your worries about who will pay the bills if anything happens to your loved one!

A really romantic idea is to have their gift waiting for them when they finally reach their hotel room. Have their favourite bottle of wine or some lovely flowers delivered on the day of their arrival and their face will light up when they reach their destination.

Business Christmas Cards

There are many changes in America and the right to practice the freedom of religion is under scrutiny nearly everywhere you turn today. Schools are not allowed to have prayer in school, mention the God or the Bible or offer a moment of silence for prayer during any type of emergency situations. In the general population, there are arguments that “God” should be taken out of the “Pledge of Allegiance”, off of the dollar bill and removed from other historical documents. A new question is whether a business Christmas card is a violation or intrusion upon the religion of another. If so must the professional holiday greeting by businesses now become simple “best wishes” and watered down version of winter greetings in order to please the majority of the crowd at least part of the time? The pro and con opinions of this matter are strongly felt and supported on both sides. So the question remains, should a business send out Christmas cards and risk appearing inappropriate by one side or the other.

Let’s face it; it isn’t safe to offend customers, as they will find another retail outlet to fill their needs and your business will suffer the loss. But where does the retail office draw the line, support their personal belief structures, and support the concepts of the company while still being true to their personal values. This is an important issue that continues to grow in its controversial status as many different ideas; beliefs and arguments grow around this issue.

For The Business Owner, Playing It Safe Is Sometimes The Best Angle

Not only are Christmas cards a tradition, but sending a business Christmas card lets your clients and/or customers know that they are important to you. And that’s important in terms of furthering a relationship.

- However, as furthering a relationship is the goal, you don’t want to endanger that relationship by offending the recipient of your business Christmas card. Here are the ins and outs of choosing and sending business Christmas cards to help you avoid embarrassing Christmas card gaffes.

- Send only business Christmas cards of high quality. Quality shows and the quality of the Christmas card reflects on the sender. Sending cheap Christmas cards will make you look cheap.

- You should only send handmade Christmas cards if you are an artist. For the rest , sending handmade business Christmas cards only makes us look inept or too cheap to buy Christmas cards.

- Be aware of your clients’ religious beliefs. Not everyone celebrates Christmas. If you know that a client or customer has different religious beliefs, choose and send a holiday card appropriate to the client’s beliefs.

For many business owners, the idea of playing it safe with their customers is a much better idea than taking an unnecessary risk in exposing personal values. While it isn’t always easy to ignore the personal values, it is often best to remember that personal and professional lives do not have to be in alignment 100% of the time, while it is ideal if they can be, it isn’t always possible. For the business owner that wants to send Christmas cards but isn’t comfortable sending religious based Christmas greetings to each customer, there are now delicately worded holiday greeting cards that serve the same function as a business Christmas card but leave all reference to a religious belief out of the greeting.

This is quite possibly the best solution available to the business owner that wants to please as many of the individual customers as possible while not offending any as well. It is not always easy to make the correct choice but in a situation such as whether or not to send business Christmas cards, it is generally a better idea to send a holiday greeting rather than recognize one religion over another.