The Gritty Virtual Assistant Blog

I stopped by my post office box over the weekend and among other things received a SendOutCard from a marketer.

Gag. I would never in a million years send one of those cheap, tacky, gang-printed, computer-signed cards to anyone I cared about, much less any of my clients.

Who’s going to feel special when they know they are just an outsourced chore that must be attended to for convention’s sake and you can’t be bothered to even sign your own name or write a personal note? When it comes to me, do me a favor… save a tree and yourself the time and postage (and me the lowered opinion) and just don’t bother at all.

Sure, sending sentiments takes an effort. Sure, time is precious when you are running a business. Systemization, processes and automation are very important things to leverage.

But there are just some things in life–and business–that need to be taken time for, and the effort extended, if they are going to mean anything. There are no shortcuts when it comes to being genuine and authentic.

This very past week, in fact, I received an unexpected card from my insurance company thanking me for a referral I sent to them. It was all hand-written–my address, their return address and the message inside the card. It was just lovely.

This is a very busy firm, too. Having staff expend time and resources to provide this kind of personal attention is no small expense. But it matters. It gave me a very pleasant experience and made a very favorable impression upon me. True class.

With a little advance planning, sending cards doesn’t have to be a chore. Here are some of my best tips (although, this year, I’m not following my own plan as I’m going to wait until I get to Germany in December to pick out my cards and gifts this year–fun!):

1. Do your card-shopping in advance. Starting in September or October will put you way ahead of the game. If you come across a few designs you really like, get them all and you’ll have a future supply.
2. Have some taste and make a thoughtful selection. Don’t just grab the first thing you see. Pick out a design or two that you really like that reflects your personality or sentiments. If you work with a Virtual Assistant who knows you well, she or he could gather some designs based on your list of criteria and you can then make the final selection.
3. Get your card list together starting in September. Your Virtual Assistant can help you and then create mail merged labels. Your saved list will also give you a headstart the following year.
4. Some experts recommend addressing everything by hand. Others say go ahead and use labels on the outside, but sign your name and write your personal message by hand. I personally like to use labels or preprinted envelopes for my return address and then write everything else out by hand. Your Virtual Assistant can take on the hand addressing for you and then ship everything back to you for your signature and personal note.
5. Do a little at a time. By starting in September, you’ve got plenty of time to do a few cards a day or each week. By the time the holiday season rolls around, you’ll have everything ready to be mailed out. You’ll at least be way ahead of the game.

Don’t be a cheapskate. And I’m not talking about money here. I’m talking about soul. Cheapskates turn the world into a Walmart and suck the very essence of life from it.