If your law firm is going to send holiday cards, it’s time to order them.
But, should your law firm send a holiday card?
If you’re like me, starting around Thanksgiving, you get cards arriving in the mail.
You get a Christmas card from your landlord, a Hanukah card from the copier guy, and Seasons Greetings cards from the office supply people, other attorneys, your other vendors, and others who want to sell you something. Of course, theoretically, we get a few cards from friends and family.
To tell you the truth, I hate the whole holiday card mess. It’s expensive, ineffective, and wasteful. Thankfully, my wife deals with our personal list, so I don’t have to address it. If it were left up to me, we’d ditch the whole mess. Yep, just call me Ebenezer Scrooge.
However, we’re not going to ditch the whole thing. For better or worse, most of us are doing to do something about cards. The question is, exactly what are we going to do?
Your Options
There are several approaches to the card nightmare. Here’s my analysis:
- Go wide. Hit your entire list. We did this in our firm for years. Our list had 15,000 names on it, and we spent more than a dollar on each card between printing, postage, and handling. Huge expense, minimal return. The value came from reminding the list that we existed. It helped keep us top of mind. I’m not sure it was worth the expense. At some point, we burned out on it and spent the money on alternatives.
- Go narrow. Mail to referral sources, clients, and anyone who sends you a card (except vendors). I think you’ve got to do this if you’re planning to stick around for more than a few years. You’re probably talking about 50 or 100 cards per lawyer, and there’s no downside to sending this small batch of cards. Don’t bother with vendors unless they’re also referral sources (the bottled water guy will cope).
- Respond only. If you’re really sick and tired of the whole card thing and you can’t justify putting any effort into the holiday, then buy a pack of cards and send one to anyone who sends you a card. Just keep the pile on your desk until the end of the year and mail them out one at a time as you receive cards from others. Again, feel free to skip non-referring vendors (we should really talk about those people more sometime soon).
- Go different. The only cards that actually penetrate my consciousness are the weird ones. I’m more likely to remember the Thanksgiving card or the New Year’s card, but even those aren’t all that noteworthy. If you’re creative and don’t feel obligated to do the standard card, then break out of the box and do something crazy. What will you do? Well, that’s up to you and your creativity.
If You Decide to Send…
If you’re going to do the cards, then it’s time to act.
You need to go ahead and order the cards (especially if you want something special printed) and organize your list. You need to spend a few minutes reviewing it, cleaning it up, and making sure it’s up-to-date. If it’s a big list, then send it to your mailing house for processing and checking.
Some experts get very wound up about the stamp. I do think holiday stamps beat out the postage meter. It takes a bit more effort to affix a stamp, but maybe it’s worth it. Mostly, my office mail is open before I see it. I rarely see the envelope, but that’s not the case for everyone. I’d say it’s probably worth doing something special with the stamp if you’re going to the trouble of sending the card. In for a penny, in for a pound, right?
To Sign or Not to Sign
Some law firm holiday card experts say you shouldn’t send a card without a personal signature. They don’t approve of the printed signature or name at the bottom. In fact, they advocate for a personal message on every card.
My wife gets a card from the President. It doesn’t have a personal message, and I’m pretty sure it wasn’t signed by Barack and Michelle. Nonetheless, my wife is thrilled when it arrives.
I get cards from law firms where they’ve passed the cards around and had four or five people sign the card personally. I don’t give those cards any more consideration than I give to the copier company card with the printed name at the bottom. All the cards go quickly to the special circular file under my desk that gets cleaned out each evening.
Sign it, don’t sign it, whatevsies.
Don’t send a card to these folks
What about mailing holiday cards to other lawyers—the competition—who don’t refer to you? I get tons of these cards each year. Why? I have no idea except that people send cards because everyone sends cards. Initially, I thought these cards were sent by nice people trying to do the right thing. Then I realized most of these people aren’t really very nice. Maybe they send cards to make up for their personalities? Regardless, it’s pointless to send cards to other lawyers who don’t refer to you and who you don’t have a personal relationship with.
What’s the Right Approach?
Personally, I’ll be following the “go narrow” route this year. I’ll be sending the essential cards and not going crazy with my mailing list.
Do whatever works for you. There are more than enough options. Most importantly, make the decision now, lock in on your plan, and execute. The holidays are approaching, and that’s not going to change.
