Greeting Cards as a CRM tool

Today I would like to continue the topic of Customer Relationship Management. In my CRM article (see my post dated october 29, 2006) I was talking about greeting cards as a powerful Customer Relationship Management tool. Many companies produce and sell greeting cards but one specific company stands out - SendOutCards (www.sendoutcards.com) Why is it so? When I first read their introductory message to the website visitors it touched my heart:

When was the last time you sent an unexpected card at an unexpected time to someone you care about? Do you think it would make a difference?

Do you remember people's birthdays and other special occasions? Do you think that matters to them?
How about a simple thank you or expression of appreciation. Do you think that would make a difference?

With this incredible tool, not only can you remember people and share appreciation, you can motivate, uplift, encourage and truly make a difference. Here is the interesting thing, the more you do this, the more you realize that you, the sender of these cards, benefit the most.
We are changing people's lives for good one simple card at a time.

And these are not just words. SendOutCards offer several unique benefits:
1.Convenience: you can send out cards out of your home
2. No stuffing, stamping or sending – just a click of a button
3. Time saver: you can send a card in under 60 seconds. You can send hundreds of cards in minutes: just download your contacts into the system in Excel and never write an address again
4. Contact Manager and Campaign Manager functions
5. Money saver: it costs less than 1 USD to send a card, including postage and handling
6. Quantity and quality: choose from 2500 original glossy cards for all business and personal occasions
7. Personalized approach: choose hand written font you like, download your pictures, logos, your signature.
8. Add 10 – 50 USD gift card from leading retailers.
9. For Winter Holiday season: send a card that has a 2007 calendar inside – at no extra cost!

But most importantly these greeting cards help you to build and develop relationship with customers. There are types of greeting cards in SendOutCards catalogue that you cannot find anywhere else: depending on your business, there are cards for detists, brokers, realters, beauty palors, etc. Once a friend of mine who organizes chocolate tours asked if SendOutCards had a card with chocolate on it... and they did! There are Thank You and Meeting Requests cards and cards-calendars. There are fantastic cards series which you can send one after the other with motivational and inspirational themes that use various proverbs and sayings of famous people.

The reaction of the person who receives such a card will always be positive: this is not a spam e-mail, this is a real nice glossy (and wise) card which one would most definitely keep because it made him/her feel good. The person will never forget you because your card will definitely stand out among all the junk mail that he receives. Even if this card will not bring you business imediately, it will make someone smile - isn't this great?

So how does SendOutCards relate to my International Experiences theme? Well, first of all, this is an international company and its services are now available in USA, UK, Canada, Singapore, Australia, New Zeland and it's growing.

Secondly, SendOutCards catalogue has series of "international"cards: there is a series in mandarin and English with oriental wishes, the Spanish language section and a new collection is being developed now, which is called Around the World where you will be able to choose from photografic postcards from... around the world. The collection has started with the photos from all US states.

So to sum up, on SendOutCards site you can find a nice something for all your collegues, family, customers and friends. And it is especially important now when the holiday season is on your door step!

You can find more information about these greeting cards at www.sendoutcards.com There you will be able to see some sample cards but to see the full 2500 cards' catalogue you have to be registered with them. If you are interested and would like to register, please, send an e-mail to surprisethem@sendoutcards.com I guarantee you a response within 48 hours: isn't this a great example of customer relationship management?

P.S. Just wanted to leave you with a nice thought that I borowed from one of SendOutCards greeting cards:
Life isn't measured by the number of breaths you take, but by the number of moments that take your breath away.

Customer Relationship Management article

Today I continue publishing articles that I wrote as an EMAdvice consultant. I believe that proper customer relationship management is crucial for any organization because very often it makes the difference bewteen losing the customer and customer retention. I wrote this article after I came to USA and frankly had a cultural shock in this respect. In my job I have noticed that understanding of CRM, its meaning and importance is so much lower in America than in Europe where I come from.

I based this article on my personal experiences and I hope it helps my Blog readers to get insights into the essence of CRM concept and its successful implementation.

The article can be viewd at http://www.emadvice.com/articles.html , 2nd article in the list.

New Market Entry Strategy article

As I have promissed in one of my earlier posts I am starting to post articles that I worte as an EMAdvice consultant in relation to various business topics.

The first article is New Market Entry Strategy. This is a step-by-step guide on planning a New Market Entry irrsepetive of the geographical region you plan to expand to. It consists of 2 parts: Analytics and Implementation and draws your attention to the factors not present in your standard local marketing plan, such as: country risk analysis, unfair competition, stakeholder management on government level, etc. Special attention is devoted to Exit strategy in case things are not going according to plan. These are the basics of International Marketing you must know before expanding your business overseas.

The article is 1st in the list of EMAdvice articles at http://www.emadvice.com/articles.html

Your comments on the article will be very much appreciated.