The importance of maintaining a good relationship with our clients and referrers in any business is obvious. For busy lawyers how to do it effectively is the problem. One simple annual task should be to send a Christmas Card. As Christmas falls at year’s end, this provides a wonderful time and opportunity 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.
Let’s examine the benefits of sending Christmas Cards.
Building Firm Loyalty
A well-crafted Christmas card addressed to individual clients or targets on a relevant occasion builds trust and rapport between you and the business contact. This in turn will lead to increased loyalty between you and your brand in the long term.
Keeping Top of Mind– with everyone!
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. By sending cards electronically you can make this task so much easier so you don’t need to select the top few dozen to receive a card but everyone with an email address!
Creating a Buzz
Very few law firms create and send personalised cards to their clients. By creating something that clearly comes from you to them will create a buzz and keep you in mind, particularly if you can get them to acknowledge it and ‘thank you’ back as some electronic cards now offer. Additionally, you can have your logo and a photo and even electronic signatures in them as well to enhance the personal touch.
Showing you Care
More than anything else a Christmas card shows you care and are thinking about them, at this time of year. Regardless of personal life or in business life, people like to be remembered. A card does just that!
When to send them
The best time to send a card is in early to mid December.
Affirming your firm’s Values in the Message
The benefit to you and your firm is significantly enhanced by being able to identify your firm with a worthwhile Charity when sending a Christmas greeting. Your firm’s values and ideals are clearly affirmed in a positive and heartfelt way. They are enhanced even more if the card acknowledges that you have made a donation in purchasing the cards to that Charity.
Here is a Christmas Card Proposal and “Early Bird” offer that does it all:
As readers of Law Firm Smarts, the Smart Law Marketing newsletter will know, Peter Heazlewood has been working on several new and exciting marketing software programs. As a result, a new associated company is being formed- Lift Legal Pty Ltd.
Proposal & “Early Bird” offer- to benefit REGISTER BEFORE FRIDAY 6th December 2013:
Lift Legal will send out electronically (only not hard copy postal) a Christmas card from your firm to as many clients and referrers as you have on your database. That is a card to every single one with an email address.
Support the ‘Cancer Council’ Charity:
Lift Legal will make a donation to the Cancer Council for every participating firm. As a gesture we will include a small donation from you to this charity (included in the cost), so you will be given credit for the donation. Your clients will appreciate that your firm has charitable values as well as being community minded and doing so, in lieu of buying cards and stamps as well as adding paper waste in the environment.
Interested?
Think of the time saved with your PA’s and professional staff not having to be involved. Plus there is no fuss about which clients to send a card to, as they can all get one, no fuss about signing cards and no postage costs all for as little as $380.
We think this is a no-brainer and is not only inexpensive but ticks all the boxes and hope you think so too.
Plus a FREE Database audit of results is also available to you:
In January Lift Legal will provide you with an audit of your database at no cost, so you can see which clients opened the card, any bounces or failed addresses etc and other details that will assist in helping you with your ongoing client contact.
Click here to see the sample cards or contact us to see how it works and know the cost.
(This article was authored by Peter Heazlewood and originally appeared in the Law Firm Smarts newsletter on the 23rd of November 2013)
About the author
Peter Heazlewood
Peter Heazlewood is a management and marketing consultant, he specialises in helping law firms develop their practices using business planning marketing and performance reporting techniques refined in his own successful law firm. Peter lives in Sydney with his wife and is the father of five adult children.
