Author: Henry L.

Company Birthday Cards and Their Impact

When I first started my business I didn’t send out company birthday cards to my clients or my employees. That all changed the day I received one from my doctor. Although the card was a few days early and very simple, it put a genuine smile on my face. The card reminded me of the wonderful care I receive and all of the amusing moments that have occurred at his office because of the great attitude that he and his employees have.

Realizing the impact that this card had on me, I decided to invest the time and money to make sure that each of my clients and employees received a birthday card. I wanted my clients to know that I value their loyalty. I also wanted them to understand that we care about their happiness and our relationship. A few weeks after I started sending the cards I received a call from one of my clients. She wasn’t calling to place an order, but instead it was to thank me for the card. At that moment I knew I had made the right choice in initiating this tradition. Since then, I have received several calls from clients just to express gratitude for remembering the one day that is theirs.

The snowball effect that the employee birthday cards had on the workplace environment was amazing. Employees started to actually do things for each other’s birthdays and everyone always seemed to be in good spirits for those special days. Usually it would be something small such as cutting a birthday cake during lunch or making plans to celebrate after work. Currently the team mentality is the strongest it has ever been and I have no doubt in my mind that this is all due to taking the time to remember each of our employee’s birthdays.

Design #184AY – Garden Bouquet Get Well Card

One way to take the sting out of an illness is to receive get well cards. I’m sure that most of us when signing employee get well cards don’t necessarily think of the impact they’ll have on the recipient. This little act of kindness, however, can bring such joy. When I was out of work recovering from knee surgery I was feeling a little sorry for myself. After receiving several get well cards from my co-workers, family, and friends my spirits were uplifted. I still had to go through the recovery period, but somehow, reading these cards made me feel better.

Design #184AY, Garden Bouquet Get Well Card, is just the kind of card to do the trick. This greeting card features a wonderful gold accented watering can filled with a beautiful bouquet of flowers embossed on buff colored card stock. Sprouting up from the can are purple, red, and yellow flowers that are nestled with green leaves. A gold “Get Well” sentiment is displayed on either side of the watering can, accented by a delicate sprig of green leaves.

Design #184AY - Garden Bouquet Get Well Card
Design #184AY - Garden Bouquet
Get Well Card

No matter what the reason is for sending a get well card, your recipient is sure to appreciate the thoughtfulness. Now go ahead and buy a “garden bouquet” (or one of the other designs offered) and mail them out to fellow co-workers, friends, and family you know who could use some cheering up! Spreading get well wishes will certainly make their day!

Employee Anniversary Cards Make for Happy Employees

Every year I receive employee anniversary cards to acknowledge yet another 365 days with my company. When I hit my first year anniversary and I received my first anniversary card, I was presently surprised. Along with a personalized imprint, it was hand signed by my managers and more impressively, by the Executive Team. Why is that impressive? When you think about how busy the company leaders are one can then appreciate that they took the time out of their hectic schedules to let you know that they indeed feel that you are important to the success of the company. Our company leaders acknowledge every single employee’s anniversary for each year completed. Oh yeah, they acknowledge birthdays, as well.

The Gallery Collection is indeed successful. Smart too! This company is 80 years strong. This doesn’t happen without a solid team. From the executive members on down, each person is an important component to the success of the company. It is not only important to let your customers know that they are special, but to let your employees know that they are, too! Now I know that receiving personalized anniversary cards might not seem like a big deal to some, but I for one appreciate the attention given to these “little” details. Employee anniversary cards are just one simple way to boost morale.

I have worked for companies in the past that for the most part didn’t even know that I existed. I consider myself a good, loyal, and dependable worker, but even I found it hard to accept that not many people in the company knew who I was. After over six years on that job, other than my direct supervisors, management didn’t even know my name, let alone what I did. Sad, don’t you think?

Appreciated employees are happy employees! Happy employees are productive employees! Productive employees make happy customers! This sounds like a win-win-win situation to me.

Design #899AY- Bursting Congratulations Wishes

Design #899AY- Bursting Congratulations Wishes, is the perfect business congratulations card for when you’d like to compliment someone on that big promotion, tell a co-worker congratulations on a job well done, or surprise a business associate that’s celebrating a monumental anniversary with the company. This attention grabbing design is sure to convey your sentiments exactly.

This stunning card is printed on black matted stock paper inside and out, and the embossed design on the front shows a gold foil box with gold tone on tone slanted stripes that run across the front of the box. Rich foil colored balloons in gold & bright orange burst forth from the box mixing twinkling stars & gold dust in reflective foil amongst the balloons. To top off the grand finale of the design you have the words “Congratulations” in large script font scrolled above the balloons in the same reflective gold foil you see throughout the design.

Design #899AY - Bursting Congratulations Wishes Card
Design #899AY - Bursting Congratulations Wishes

This exquisite congratulations card can easily be used for any business or personal milestone in life. The recipient who opens this card is sure to know how truly appreciated they are!

An All Occasion Assortment Box is a Lifesaver!

While entertaining one evening with close friends from out of state, in conversation my friend Mary announced, “Well, we’ve all made it, 25 years of marriage.” I suddenly realized it was their wedding anniversary. We were married in the same year, a few months apart and were each others maids of honor at our weddings.

Then it hit me…I had an all occasion greeting cards assortment box in the bedroom. With that, I exclaimed, “Oh! I’ll be right back,” and left the room. I went into the bedroom, retrieved the box of greeting cards from the closet knowing that there were anniversary cards in the box. Miraculously I found a pen, signed the anniversary card, and returned to our guests. I then handed Mary the card. She opened it and remarked how beautiful the card was.

It was beautiful! It had shiny embossed gold and orange balloons with gold confetti streamers and shiny gold letters that said “Happy Anniversary.” I’ve also used the Sympathy cards in the all occasion box of cards when hearing of someone passing or someone’s birthday. It certainly comes in handy, allowing me to immediately send a card. With all our busy lives you would have to work into your schedule a stop at the card store and select a greeting card, but instead I just stop in my bedroom. This box is so convenient!

Design #861AY – Party Hats Galore

Design #861AY, Party Hats Galore Birthday Card, shows a colorful array of party hats, which is no doubt a stunning way to honor someone on their special day. The embossed hats are highlighted on a midnight black card stock that shows off brilliant bursts of rainbow foil colors in purple, fuchsia, orange, bronze, lemon, and lime, and the unique feature about rainbow foil is that every hat color will appear slightly different on each card so it’s as though you’re getting multiple designs with your business birthday cards. Some of the hats are outlined in rich gold foil to add depth, but every party hat is embossed with its own unique gold foil textured trim directly on the hats.

Design #861AY – Party Hats Galore Birthday Card
Design #861AY – Party Hats Galore
Birthday Card

The birthday celebration continues with sprinkles of gold foil confetti, streamers, and stars floating around the hats, adding even more dimension to the front of this birthday card design giving it a fun and festive party theme. The entire design is framed out in a gold foil border and inside the border is where all the party hats and whimsical fun appears. Centered below the hats are the words “Happy Birthday” in gold foil script lettering. The special feature of this card that will make this design appealing as a business birthday card is the die cut window that appears just below the sentiment. This cut out on the card will display your business name in gold foil lettering in grand style, and when the card is opened, your company name is displayed on the black matte finish inside the card below the gold foil birthday greeting of your choice. This elegant business birthday card with its touch of whimsical fun will leave a lasting impression on all for years to come.

Are Environmentally Friendly Greeting Cards The Way To Go?

A card has different meaning for every individual. One person can see it has a special note while another individual can see it as a waste of paper and another tree gone. However, things are different now. Many companies offer environmentally friendly greeting cards that are gentle on our resources but still allow you to express your gratitude, well wishes, and holiday cheer along with your regard for the planet.

One environmentally friendly card that I absolutely love receiving is made on seeded paper. Instead of throwing the card away or storing it in a bin you can plant it and watch a beautiful flower bloom. However, there are some cards that you never want to let go – personalized birthday cards. Personalized cards have that special touch. It shows that the sender thought of you. I store birthday cards in a bin and read them over and over again through the years.

This past birthday, my mother fell ill. I was so focused on my mom that I didn’t get the opportunity to read any of my cards. I place them all in a bin and said I would get back to them shortly. Days, weeks, and months passed – until the other day when I was rearranging the closet and I saw the bin where I store my birthday cards. I received so many thoughtful wishes. Each one had a different note with a wonderful birthday greeting. There was one card that stood out among the rest. The paper was luxurious and it featured gorgeous, sparkling stars. It really caught my eye. Then I saw that it was from my Mom. She wished me a happy birthday and said “I know how you feel about the environment!”

I was a bit puzzled until I turned the card over and saw that it was an environmentally friendly greeting card. I had no idea such a lustrous card could also be good for the planet! It brought a huge smile to my face. In my opinion environmentally friendly greeting cards are definitely the way to go!

Design #338AY – Starlight Anniversary

Giving or sending corporate anniversary cards is a perfect way to acknowledge a milestone. When an employee reaches another year of employment, my company gives that person an anniversary card signed by our executive team as well as our managers.  The card often contains a little note such as, “We are glad to have you with us!” or “Thanks for being here!” Each employee is made to feel like a “star.”

And speaking of stars, design #338AY, Starlight Anniversary Card, is a card worth giving. The design features a gold star centered on buff stock. Within the gold star are outlines of three additional stars. These stars are backed with a silver-filled gold frame with delicate swirls of glistening foil. The back drop to this is more stars and swirls done in silver foil and framed in the same elegant finish.

Design #338AY - Starlight Anniversary Card
Design #338AY - Starlight Anniversary Card

Giving corporate anniversary cards certainly isn’t limited to employees. They are appropriate to send to your customers as well. They are a way to acknowledge any number of milestones such as obtaining another year in business, or another year or month of beating an illness. Starlight Anniversary is just one of many choices that can be used to let someone know that whatever the accomplishment, it is indeed worthy of mention.

A Thank You Card to Dad That Got “Stamped” On

Recently I sent my father a personalized thank you card as part of an ongoing joke between us that started about 40 years ago. It involves postage stamps or rather my lack of them. I enclosed an entire sheet of postage stamps in the greeting card with an explanation that I was finally repaying him for all the stamps I had “borrowed” over the years and thanked him for letting me have one whenever I needed to mail something. Well, his response was definitely not what I expected. Instead of graciously saying thank you, his reaction was along the lines of, “It didn’t begin to cover what I had helped myself to over the years!”

He proceeded to remind me of all the times he had gone into his stamp drawer in his desk and discovered there was not a stamp to be had. He remembered the one time when the mortgage was almost late because I had taken his last stamp on a holiday weekend back in the 70s when they couldn’t be purchased online or at the supermarket. My reply to that was, “Well if the post office is closed there is no mail delivery on a holiday anyway!”

Looking back, I must admit I did “help myself” to a lot of his stamps but for good reasons. I had a pen pal that I wrote to all the time in grammar school (very educational). I used to mail in to a lot of contests throughout high school (to win prizes) and mail in rebates for items I purchased (both of which would save Dad money in the long run). In college, I would usually help myself to some stamps to take back to school with me so I could mail him letters asking for money when I needed it. It was cheaper than calling him collect on the phone, I rationalized. After I got married and moved out-of-state, the stamp borrowing ceased for a few years and I bet Dad missed that I didn’t need him for his stamps all those years.

But the marriage ended and I became a single Mom with lots of bills to pay and pennies to pinch, so when I visited Mom and Dad I would usually bring a few unstamped bills home with me with an explanation that I hadn’t had time to go to the post office to buy stamps. Dad’s reaction was usually, “I didn’t know you even knew where or what a post office was!” Do I detect sarcasm?

I am better these days with my postal issues because I discovered you can buys books of stamps from the cashier at the supermarket. What a great idea! I bet Dad wished he had come up with that idea years ago. I am not even going to attempt to repay my father for all the stamps he thinks I still owe him. But I will mention this – my daughter called me the other day to ask if I had a stamp and a thank you card to send to her aunt to acknowledge the check she had just sent her. I guess there is a “stamp gene”…and you just can’t fight heredity!

A Birthday Card and a Free Haircut

As the owner of a salon and spa, having as much personal contact as possible with my customers is vital. Throughout the year, we have promotions and raffles at the salon. Sometimes we choose to raffle off hair care products or even services. We have also started sending out Christmas cards. I believe that this is a great thing to do as far as promoting relationships with customers, but I also feel that because so many Christmas cards get sent ours may get lost in the “shuffle”. We were racking our brains trying to think of something else that we could do during the year where we actively reached out to the customer. We finally came up with the idea of sending birthday cards. In our minds, there wasn’t anything more personal to someone than their birthday and it is truly a special day.

We included a coupon for a free haircut in the personalized birthday cards that we sent. Our response was truly overwhelming – the customers felt so appreciated and were so surprised that we remembered their special day. Sending birthday cards truly boosted our business. Even though we give away a service (and that costs time and money), we’ve made up for it in so many other ways.

Sending personalized Christmas and birthday cards got us thinking that there were other types of cards we could send too. For instance, when we acquire a new customer we now send them a welcome card with a new customer discount for a haircutting service. We also send a thank you card whenever one of our customers refers a new customer to our salon. And you guessed it – they also receive a promotion of some sort!

With their envelope imprinting, personalization, and SealFast envelopes, the Gallery Collection has made it so easy for us to remember our customers in a special, elegant way.