Since we’re on the topic, it’s also time to think about your end-of-year greetings/thank you plans for your clients and colleagues. Obviously these plans will vary depending on your country, customs, budget and time limits, but here are a few suggestions for spreading some cheer, gratitude and name recognition.
Holiday greeting basics:
- Send something. OK; I know this sounds pitifully basic…but I think that even if you only have time to pick up a box of cards at Target and sign them, you should at least do that. I’ve heard a few clients comment (in a good-natured way!) that they notice who sends something at the end of the year and who doesn’t; and you know which of those groups you want to be in!
- That being said, go for a card that is high-quality and has a fairly universal image and message. Unless your clients are members of a specific religion or cultural group, it’s best to pick a holiday card with a semi-generic “season’s greetings” message and an image that isn’t associated with a specific holiday. In our industry I think that the “around the world” motif (i.e. a globe with a dove, flags of various countries, “peace” in multiple languages, you get the picture…) is a little overused but can work if you find the right card. I think that two good choices are charity-themed cards (such as those from Unicef) or locally-themed cards (this year I ordered Colorado mountain scene cards for my clients and colleagues).
- Avoid pre-printed mailing labels. Address your cards by hand; remove any trappings of mass-production from your holiday greeting efforts.
- Don’t forget your colleagues, especially those who refer work to you. For many of us, these people are some of our most powerful marketing tools. See below for ideas on how to really single them out!
Holiday greetings, beyond the basics:
- Personalize. If you have time, write something specific about that client or colleague. How you really appreciate their friendliness and attention to detail; how flattered you were to be selected to translate their annual report; how their trust and referrals have really helped your business grow. If you’re a business or agency, think about having all of your employees sign the cards; I always enjoy it when my agency clients do this.
- Send gifts to your top clients and your top-referring colleagues. These don’t have to be extravagant. Something like special chocolates, tea, a wreath or better yet, products that are made in your local area! Personally I would go with something unique that you select and send rather than something ordered from an office gifts catalog.
- Specifically thank your “multipliers.” Thanks to Grant Hamilton of Anglocom for teaching me this term! Especially if you work with direct clients, you probably have an advocate within the company who loves your work and encourages her/his superiors to use your services. Think about sending two cards or gifts: one to the company as a whole and one to your multiplier.
- Here’s a wacky one: a holiday letter to your clients. Here in the US, it’s common for people to send a letter with their holiday cards, telling about what happened over the course of the last year. These letters are sometimes maligned for their braggy, “don’t you wish you were as happy as we are???” tone, but personally I enjoy reading them. Obviously you want to write a separate holiday letter for your clients; one that details your professional progress such as conferences, awards, large projects, publications, etc. and also thanks your clients for their trust and confidence in you over the past year. I don’t know…this one came to me while I was jogging this morning. Any thoughts?
- And then there’s in-person visits at which you can present your holiday gift, thank the client for their business and find out how their year went. I think this is a high-investment, high-value strategy. I know of one medium-sized agency that visits nearly every one of their local clients during the holidays. Huge time outlay? You bet! Huge returns? Probably; especially if the competition is sending a low-quality card with a pre-printed mailing label.
Thank you Corinne for this article.
Very interesting, it is true that our British and American colleagues send their greetings in December and not in January as French do !
So it is now time to think about all this !
Best regards,
I have been known (although it’s been a while) to whip a batch of home-baked goodies for my bestest VIP-type clients. And one year I found a special something in a gift shop that was an absolute “must-give.” In both cases, the extra effort was very much appreciated and hasn’t seem to hurt the repeat business at all!
Great idea for a posting. Good reminder that it’s time to got on this!
Of course, that’s “whip UP” a batch and “GET” on this… ah, the perils of the quick reply!
Wow – you read my mind by addressing this topic! I have been thinking about this for several months and just ordered some lovely custom cards. This year, I plan to send CD’s of international music, picking different ones for different clients or colleagues. I could just do an iTunes gift card I guess, but that seems much less exciting than having a CD in hand (and they can always put it on their iPod later).
I really like your ideas, and I think it is because they confirm several things I am doing this year, or have done before (hee hee – great minds think alike?).
I am getting high-quality cards, sending a small gift to clients and to some colleagues, I always write the cards by hand (I mean, I am not a huge corporation, so it seems kind of silly to automate it and it is way less personal).
This year, I was also planning to thank my “mulitpliers” though I didn’t even know there was a term for that (thanks Grant and Corinne), and I have done in-person visits in the past.
That one, I want to explain, for one of my nicest and best clients, I made a special French dessert and told them the story behind it and left it for them. They loved it and it was very personal and very fun for me too. No comparison with a “gift catalog” ordered gift!
Another idea is, send your cards “early” or “late” on purpose, to stand out from the flood of cards that come right around Christmas (at least in the US). Take the French approach and send New Year cards or go early and “thank” your clients for Thanksgiving (though don’t make it too corny and that one is coming up fast). I have taken the “late” approach on purpose and that also worked well (but this year, am sticking with the traditional time frame).
Anyway, I love this discussion and can’t’ wait to hear what others have to say!
Eve
Thanks, Eve! Those are all fantastic ideas; especially the special French dessert strikes me as a fantastic client gift. I also really like the idea of sending things early or late on purpose in order to stand out a bit. Let us know how your clients like the CDs, I bet they will love them!!
I’ve been thinking about a “holiday letter” too. I haven’t had time so far to set up a monthly newsletter, so a round-up (keeping the tone light) might be a good idea. Especially for anyone planning to send out more regular newsletters – it might make clients more inclined to opt in.
Great idea Marian! I really like the thought of launching the newsletter with the holiday issue and then inviting clients to subscribe!
Oh, yes, I forgot to comment on that. I like Marian’s comments. I keep meaning to do a (quarterly?) newsletter, but that hasn’t happened yet….
Wow, what terrific ideas! I’ve been wracking my brain for something special to send one of my best clients, and of course it was staring me in the face, since I’m an accomplished baker!
One client will be receiving some local wine, since she’s an amateur winemaker. Perhaps paired with chocolate.
I may have to do something a little less perishable for my overseas clients, though! I’m thinking local chocolate (Have you noticed that your “multiplier” is often a woman? My contact database has a field for ‘dark or milk.’)
Caitilin
Caitilin, I almost fell off my chair laughing over the “dark or milk” field…too funny! But I think you’re onto something…home baked stuff could work really well. Personal, semi-frugal, not the same Russell Stover pack that everyone else sends!!
@Caitlin, the only comment I’d make about chocolate is that it can melt and re-solidify during shipping. I have had that happen even when hand-carrying it. But, in the winter this is less likely to happen, I suppose. But, it looks yucky when it does that, so something to consider when shipping long distances. But, feel free to send ME some good, dark Seattle chocolate and I promise not to complain if it is melts in transit. 😉
Thanks, Eve. I know what box to tick for you! 🙂
Hmm, I wonder if my multiplier would like some homemade truffles?
I mean I now send e-cards, what do you think?
As I mentioned in my reply to Chris Durban above, personally I am not in favor of e-cards. They definitely save paper and postage, but I think that people are likely to either delete them without opening them (spam fears) or just glance over them. I’d go the traditional route and send paper.
@gbinge1 – I’d rather have “no card” than an e-card. How can you differentiate between fake virus emails sending you to dodgy websites and e-card emails? Just a thought.
In the UK, we’re fortunate enough for it still to be acceptable to send Christmas cards rather than Holiday cards. I’ve never yet met anyone who is even remotely offended by this (in the same way when our Indian neighbours invited us to have a meal with them at Divali, we accepted without hesitation).
For most clients a good quality card works over here. I’m thinking this year, now I’ve got a decent printer, I might make a more personal card with some of my own photography on. Then I can guarantee it’ll be unique. We get so many cards with “Merry Christmas” in a gazillion languages and pictures of the world, that it gets a little boring. Usually there will be at least one card that we get three copies of.
Enclosing a little gift for especially good clients is a nice idea. We’ve not often done it, but you’ve made me think a bit more about it. Nice blog post Corinne & comments by others. 🙂
Thanks Alex! Interesting that in the UK it’s acceptable to send “Merry Christmas” cards (that could be a blog post in and of itself!). Here in the US we’re definitely the land of “Season’s Greetings”! I really like your idea about the homemade photo cards, very personal and professional at the same time.
I think maybe my comment above was not clear about music CD’s. I meant that I was *buying* them, not *burning* them. I also liked the idea of making an iTunes playlist, but there is that pesky issue of copyright, so I chose to just buy CD’s, and then clients can do what they want with them (rip to their MP3 player legally, or whatever).
For the past few years, a translator friend has sent out a message to all contacts (clients and fellow translators) explaining that rather than send cards she is making a donation to Heifer International, a charity that donates goats, cows and poultry to African families. The NY Times’ Nicolas Kristof did a great story on them here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/03/opinion/03kristof.html
But he’s also written about unusual gifts for Father’s Day here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/17/opinion/17kristof.html
(Good guy, Nick Kristof, and a great writer, too).
My point? That without making a big deal of it, you/we can make a donation to a worthy cause that (1) helps insofar as it is cash that can be spent where it is most needed; (2) generates interest in the cause among clients (who may also pass news of it around, raising more funds from others) and (3) impresses the client with our own dedication to causes that change people’s lives.
Along the same lines, if you/we do want to give an *object* of some sort, I’ve got an Amnesty International catalog on my desk at this very moment. It features lots of small items made by craftspeople from around the world that are noteworthy and would look good, say, hanging on a Christmas tree.
@ gbinge1: I’m not so keen on e-cards because unless they are truly sparkling or entertaining or moving, they tend to get clicked through. I know that I myself often don’t open them for fear of viruses. (Paranoid, me?)
Thanks Chris! What a great idea, especially for those of us who do translations that have some connection to developing countries. After reading your comment I realized that since I’ve been working on a lot of international development translations for projects in Burkina Faso, maybe I could find a charity that works there and donate money to them instead of sending gifts to my clients. And great tip about the Amnesty catalog, that sounds great too! For what it’s worth, I agree with you about e-cards; too likely to be picked up as spam.
Oooh! These are all terrific ideas! Spoiled clients 🙂
On your list of happy recipients, don’t forget your own service providers who bend over backwards to get *your* important projects done! They deserve holiday thanks too!
On the paper card v. E-card v. donation to good cause debate, they are not mutually exclusive, and I sometimes combine them.
I’m not talking about your el-cheapo cards you can find all over the Internet! I subscribe to a professionally designed E-card service that lets me send a personalized E-mail (with the link to the card on the secured server) in which I mention the good cause that I am supporting this holiday season. For clients that have a strong sustainable development and CSR positioning, it’s a nice way to underscore we support their goals. It’s also useful when you have over 20 people to send cards to in the same company!
I’ll wait until January to send something to my French clients. I’m leaning towards pens because I personally like getting them myself. No calendars or agendas though because I find that people are choosy about using a certain format.
There’s a timely update on sorting the wheat from the chaff in selecting charities to support in Nick Kristol’s column in today’s NY Times (“When Donations Go Astray”):
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/21/opinion/21kristof.html?src=ISMR_HP_LO_MST_FB
Good stuff! We have traditionally sent very personalized, handwritten cards with specific notes, for instance, reminding the client of a nice meeting/project/lunch we had. We never just sign our names; and we do put a lot of thought into it. And I have terrible handwriting, so this is WORK.
For the US, we buy neutral holiday cards — yes, a lot of Season’s Greetings stuff, but for some folks who are specifically Christian (that we know of), we send them a Merry Christmas card, because it shows that we know their preferences and their religion (many clients have become friends and vice-versa). This year for the US, we are thinking about including a small chocolate Christmas/holiday ornament from Germany in each envelope — simple and inexpensive, yet international. We’ve sent something similar in the past, and they have loved it.
For our top 20 clients, we will consider Heifer (great organization, we have donated before), or a microlending organization, or perhaps Three Square or some other charity. Great idea, Chris D.! Oh, and I usually get beautiful cards at great prices at Costco and Party City. Stock up after the holidays for the next year!
For those who track such things, Nicholas Kristof’s column in today’s NY Times lists a dozen charities that change people’s lives. See http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/19/opinion/19kristof.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=a212
A great way to spread the holiday cheer, people!
Hi,
This year I handled this too late to mail real gifts, but I found what I thought was decent idea so here it is for next year…
I sent a subscription to Jost Zetzsche’s ToolKit Newsletter to a number of key colleagues and to clients who work in translation companies. First I gave Jost a list of names, and he checked whether any received the premium edition already. Then we confirmed and he sent a welcome ‘you have received a gift from Karen’ type email. It was easy and I think people appreciated it.
http://www.internationalwriters.com/toolkit/
Karen
Great idea Karen!! It’s helpful, eco-friendly and very targeted to the people you wanted to thank. Brilliant!!