One example – and in the spirit of “facts tells, stories sell” – you can transform the abstract, transactional and commoditized nature of your technical wealth management and planning abilities to be more fluid, dynamic, conceptual and proprietary by giving your overall process an identity that symbolizes how you navigate clients through their journey addressing their many critical life events so that they can look to the future with anticipation rather than apprehension.

This symbol can essentially become your Nike Swoosh that triggers a moment of recognition and appreciation for your people, practice and process rather than focus on products, pricing and performance. Remember, your process isn’t promissory around short term performance, it’s a promise of a client experience – in other words what it means to be your client for a lifetime and then into multi-generations.

A great place to start is with the greeting cards you use and the wall decor in your office. One of my favorite and artistic examples is an Inukshuk – which is used by the Inuit of Northern Canada as a navigational aid for hunters and translates to mean “in the image of man”. Our friends at Lavish have a beautiful card you can use to pay tribute for birthday, referral recognition and for new client onboarding. A print on your wall is something you could point to during a strategy and tactical client review meeting to center them back to the value of your process.

Other examples of imagery our clients imprint are a Swan (symbolizing how clients sleep well at night), a sailboat (symbolizing how it’s not the wind but rather the set of the sail that determines your destination) and a bridge (symbolizing how you are the bridge to your client’s goals).

Speaking of bridges, one advisor who imprints bridges consistently told me not long ago that one of his clients recently mentioned that every time he sees a bridge he thinks about the advisor and another who called to introduce a friend and said that he explained to his friend that his advisor has a “process that puts all the pieces of the financial puzzle together and builds the bridge as we cross it to our financial goals”.

If you verbalize your value using a symbol, you make it easier for your clients to internalize your value and then socialize it to others.

Duncan MacPherson – Author and Keynote Speaker on Business Development
CEO at Pareto Systems

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Now, for those of you who view sending cards as an unnecessary business activity, we encourage you to read on as well.

Many of us live in a busy time; in a busy world ~ where time is a valuable commodity. One result of this fast-paced environment is that we often don’t take the time to adequately acknowledge the important things that happen in our clients’ lives. There’s also a good chance that the people in your clients’ lives are equally busy and may not take the time to acknowledge the special times either. Sad: but true. Here’s an opportunity to slow down, acknowledge and celebrate important events with your best clients in a sincere and meaningful way.

Before we go any further, it’s important to remember that this strategy is not intended to be applied universally to all of your clients. It is a practice management strategy designed specifically for your preferred clients: the people you know, appreciate and enjoy working with. This makes it a strategy worthwhile and fun to implement.

When Should You Send Cards to Your Clients?

The first step in creating consistency around sending client cards is to determine exactly when you want to send them. There are many different opportunities to send cards. This includes, but is not limited to:

• New Client Welcome Card
• Birthday Cards
• Anniversary Cards
• Thanksgiving Cards
• December Holiday Cards
• Moments of Truth Cards (i.e. ‘Congratulations on New Baby’, ‘Congratulations on Wedding’, ‘Our Sympathy in this time of Loss’, etc.)
• Thank You for the Introduction Cards
• Other, as you see appropriate for your clientele

There is clearly no shortage of opportunities to send cards to your clients. What’s important is that you identify which occasions you want to consistently acknowledge so that you create a pattern of predictable business activity.

We recommend you send the following cards to your clients:

• New Client Welcome Card
• Birthday Cards
• Thanksgiving Cards
• Moments of Truth Cards
• Thank You for the Introduction Cards

The New Client Welcome Card sends a warm and welcoming personal message to your clients. This reinforces they have made the right decision to move forward and work with you. It should be hand-written and signed by the advisor.

Birthdays are a special day for most individuals. Sadly, as we get older the excitement and enthusiasm of our special day can dwindle away to the point where it feels like any other day. Make a statement. Make your clients feel special. Send a card that they would enjoy receiving.

We highly recommend sending Thanksgiving Cards instead of December Holiday Cards, which often lose impact due to the sheer volume of activity at that time of the year. Furthermore, the holiday cards of service providers and professionals can come off as ‘canned’ and ‘insincere’. In other words, it looks like another company going through the motion of getting their holiday communication out so they can ‘check it off their list’.

Remember, it’s not just about making contact with your clients – it’s about making a positive impact on them. To stand out from the rest, send a Thanksgiving Card and include an inspirational quote of thanks – there are many available on the internet and in books. You can also take the opportunity to add a line about how much you appreciate working with them – in essence thanking them. Not only will your Thanksgiving card be unique, but it can cause your clients to reflect on the meaning of Thanksgiving – which is important. That alone, can have a significant impact on your favorite clients.

Moments of Truth involve all kinds of events happening in the lives of your best clients: some of them good and some of them not so good. Either way, if they share something important with you, you need to show them you heard it. Everyone on your team needs to be listening for moments of truth.

Last, but certainly not least, each time you receive an introduction from a client, you should send a “Thank You” Card. The key to a successful card in this case is that it goes out immediately – before you’ve even determined if the introduction will become a client – AND that you never thank them for “the business” or “the referral”. Those words reflect that an introduction is about you ~ and it’s not. It’s about your client trusting you enough to share their experience with someone they know and ultimately introduce you to that individual. This is the highest compliment you can receive. Thank your client immediately for their ‘continued trust and confidence’ because that’s exactly what they are demonstrating.

What Kind of Card Should You Send?

The second step in creating consistency is the actual look and feel of the card itself. When you are going through the effort of sending a card, make it a nice one. You don’t want your cards throughout the year to look like a hodge-podge of cards that you’ve picked up here or there. We also don’t recommend you use firm cards with prominent ‘logos’ just because they are free. To help in the decision-making process, ask yourself “How would I feel if I received this card?”

In order to create additional consistency around the ‘card sending process’ choose one type or style of card provider. For this I always recommend my friends at www.lavishcards.com. In addition to beautiful all-occasion greeting cards, they can even personalize cards with your teams’ name and logo to add to the positive impressions and branding you are trying to achieve as your relationships unfold.

Lavish Cards offers the most popular and effective type of photo cards which are typically done by one artist or photographer, but offer a wide variety of themes, colors, scenes, etc. The card itself is of standard size, look and feel – but what makes it unique is the different picture on the front of each card and the individual scripting inside it. So in essence, they receive different cards for different occasions – and yet they are the same in many respects. This creates a high level of consistency and professionalism.

Furthermore, the high quality art or photo approach to cards can have a longer shelf-life and a bigger impact than traditional cards. This is because typically people who receive “Birthday Cards” or other “event” type cards clearly stamped on the outside will have these cards cleared off their mantels and desktops within 7-10 days of the event itself. When you send a nice ‘art’ or ‘photo’ card – where the event greeting is identified inside the card – it can be mantel worthy for weeks, maybe even months…especially if you’ve chosen a picture that resonates with your client. This is exactly the kind of detail that would make you “mention worthy” to your clients’ friends and families.

What Should I Write in a Card?

Keep your card scripting simple, legible and appropriate to the event and the individual. Reach out to us for sample card scripts.

Is There Anything Else You Should Know about Sending Cards?

Yes! Whenever possible include a hand-written address and postage stamp on the envelope. Nothing screams ‘mass mailing’ like a postage meter stamp across the top right corner of an envelope. You’ve come this far, so make sure the last few details continue to exude the personal touch intended.

Contributed by: Duncan MacPherson

The post The Why, When and How of Sending Client Greeting Cards appeared first on Lavish Cards - Fine Art Corporate Greeting Cards.

A proven strategy for differentiating yourself and elevating how you’re perceived and how you’re described is to create a symbol that amplifies your value. For example: as a financial advisor, clients hire you so they can “Sleep Well At Night”. So why not use a swan as a thank-you card to symbolize your value and relevance in their lives.

If you are a lawyer, accountant or professional consultant, your value to your clients is to help navigate through uncertain times, so why not use a sailboat to highlight the fact that it’s not the wind, rather the set of the sails that determines your client’s course. A bridge is another example: you are the bridge to your client’s financial goals and your process helps them build the bridge as they cross it so they can look to the future with anticipation instead of apprehension. So why not use a bridge to symbolize your value?

A lighthouse serves as a beacon to help someone oversee uncertainty or anxiety. A capstone represents how your process is the centerpiece that puts all the pieces of the puzzle together for your clients. A tiffany lamp, with all its many pieces put together beautifully, lights the path for your clients into the future.

You can go beyond greeting cards, wall décor and act like the Nike Swoosh to create an identity and imprint your value for your clients.

View the entire colection

Download The Greeting Card Playbook (pdf) – by Pareto System

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I was speaking with a consulting client the other day and they were excited to tell me that their Thanksgiving Day card process had just kicked in.

You are probably aware that we are fixated with process at our company, Pareto Systems, and it is always a thrill whenever we hear that one of our clients has taken it to heart and applied process within their own practice.

As well, this particular process is one that we feel particularly impassioned about because we have been promoting the notion of sending out Thanksgiving Day cards for about 15 years now. In fact, we always get rave reviews from the advisors that have employed it.

Although it is fine to send a Happy Holidays or New Year’s card, we have always argued that sending a Thanksgiving Day card will set you apart. There are a lot of gifts and communications going back and forth around the New Years and Christmas holidays, and your Xmas card tends to become just one of the many.

Historically speaking, the Thanksgiving Day card has never been a strong tradition. Therefore, when you send one out it, is quite likely the only card that your clients will receive. You stand out as someone who is genuinely interested in them and sincere about wishing them a great Thanksgiving holiday. As well, in this age of the Internet it is often rare to get a card of any kind for any occasion. This last point creates a further opportunity to really stand out and to make a statement about your level of commitment to them.

In order to do this Thanksgiving card idea effectively, there are a few things to consider, and one of those things is the all-important message on the card. Many advisors look for a quote which resonates with them of course. Perhaps they might speak to the state of the nation, the time of year, and of course the clients they are sending it to. In today’s world, it takes but a few moments and an Internet search before you have several worthy quotes to choose from.

Next, arrange to have your chosen message written on the card by someone in your office who has admirable and legible handwriting. I realize that you may think this is a lot of writing, but it is well worth the effort. Remember, based on your service matrix, this is not going to be sent out to all your clients–it is going to be sent out to your best clients. You also have to decide who will sign the cards. My personal preference is that the cards are signed by all the staff members. Again, what is the statement that you want to make to your best clients about the level of service that you provide and the respect that you have for them?

Your cards should have impact and shelf life.

Lastly of course, what kind of a card do you want to send? In short, we have always suggested that you send the nicest card you can possibly find. It has to be something that someone really doesn’t want to ever throw away. It has to be so attractive a card that the client will keep it on their mantle or desk for months to come. When they receive another card from you they will reluctantly tuck it away in some safe place so that they can refer back to it if they so desire.

Now, as it relates to my client, I was curious as to what steps they had put into their Thanksgiving Card process, and reviewed it. It was airtight. Anyone, even brand new to the office, could have followed it with ease.

Step 1, which was already in motion, was to order the cards by a ‘drop dead’ date to ensure that they would be sent out in a timely fashion.

They had called me the other morning because they were taking the “best card you can find” to heart, really wanted to “wow” their clients and felt a bit stuck at finding something suitable. Fortunately I had recently been introduced to a new card provider and was happy to pass it on.

The cards at www.lavishcards.com will set you apart from anyone else. They are stunningly beautiful and produced on the highest quality of paper, and they have an amazingly diverse selection of beautiful photographs. I personally have ordered them for use with my friends and family, and always get phone calls from friends thanking me for the card (if you can imagine that). One friend framed one. I love it that people enjoy them so much.

So remember: Take process seriously at all times. Don’t leave anything till the last minute and even though it is still a few months away, it is a great time to start planning your Thanksgiving Day card campaign. If you are gravitating towards the idea of sending out Thanksgiving cards yourself, be sure to order them soon so you can get a head-start on everything.

Take action:
Visit www.lavishcards.com to order your Thanksgiving Day cards today.

PS. If you are looking for a good phrase for your Thanksgiving cards, consider this:
“Wishing you and your family a great Thanksgiving holiday. We also wanted to say thanks for a great relationship.”

Continued success!
Duncan MacPherson

The post The Fine Art of Saying “Thank You!” appeared first on Lavish Cards - Fine Art Corporate Greeting Cards.

It seems so simple doesn’t it but when was the last time you opened the mailbox to something other than flyers or bills? Do you remember that excited feeling you get when you collect the mail to see your handwritten name on that paper treat? It’s a rare but delightful occurrence these days and such a simple way to connect. There are so many occasions and moments to send greeting cards. The obvious come to mind – Birthdays, Anniversaries, Get Well wishes… all those benchmark events but I think something that’s even more impactful is sending a card for an occasion that doesn’t necessarily warrant recognition.

How about surprising your client with… “Enjoy your summer with friends and family” or “Thank you for our great relationship”. An attractive greeting card sitting on a desk or mantle always gains attention and is a lovely reminder of your connection and thoughtfulness. It’s a pleasing way to strengthen a relationship and leaves the receiver elated and isn’t that worthwhile?

Enjoy your summer and here’s a thought…you might even feel inspired writing those notes while sipping on an ice cold glass of lemonade.

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