Holiday Greetings That Are Not Out of the Box

This holiday season, your prospects and clients are more likely to be thinking about gift buying and get-togethers than about remodeling projects. A friendly holiday greeting can pre-empt seasonal slumps by generating inside work and handyman jobs. It can also help build your backlog for the warmer, longer days ahead.

The key is to make your greeting personal and distinctive — a tangible reminder of the relationship you have (or hope to have) with the recipient. Take inspiration from these innovative examples.

The cards were professionally printed to ensure high-quality paper and stock, and about 500 were mailed. Costs stayed reasonably low because no envelopes were needed.

“We received a lot of compliments from our homeowners on how friendly and different the idea was,” says Fey, who has since left the company. “We live in a small area, and a lot of people have seen these guys around.”

Architectural Resources, a residential architecture firm in Ann Arbor, Mich., wanted to celebrate its many design awards (20 in the last three years alone) but not gloat or “be in your face about it,” says president Michael Klement.

The 2004 card struck the right balance. The card's exterior features the year's 6 awards arranged in an elegant but modest Christmas tree. The inside flap defines each award, with the message opposite reading, “We've had a great year. Hope you have too! All the best for the Holiday Season and the coming year.”

Klement's staff had a half-day “signing party,” then mailed about 300 cards “to just about everyone we brushed against,” he says, including clients, prospects, colleagues, builders, and trade suppliers. Congratulatory calls followed. “People were suddenly aware of us,” he adds. “They said, ‘Wow, there's a substantial amount of good work being done in our town.'”

Rochman Design-Build, Ann Arbor, Mich., breaks the usual rules with its annual holiday greeting. Instead of mailing Christmas cards, the company hand-assembles and hand-delivers unique Thanksgiving gifts worthy of a craft fair. “We're reinforcing the image of our design/build work: very creative, handcrafted, with great attention to personal service,” says owner Gary Rochman.

The 2004 gift, for instance (shown), consisted of a box wrapped in Rochman blueprints, with a handle made of a washer, some screen, and a wooden ball. Inside was a warm note along with a few chocolates nestled in shredded blueprints. Previous years' gifts include a handmade card featuring a turkey made of nails, a washer, and hooks; and a candle whose holder was a copper plumbing fitting.

Rochman's staff made and delivered 90 gifts in 2004, taking the better part of a day to do it. But the time and effort pay off. Many clients keep the gifts and even display them on their mantles and display shelves. “Rave reviews,” Rochman says.

McCutcheon Construction, Berkeley, Calif., also struck around Thanksgiving last year with a “gift certificate” worth $1,000 off projects of more than $10,000. Ten or so clients acted on the offer, says Nancy Schmeltzer, operations manager.

Key to the card's success was stamping it with an expiration date of March 31. This generated interest and got people to accelerate the projects they might otherwise have postponed, Schmeltzer says, adding that making the offer open-ended could create headaches years down the road.

McCutcheon will probably send gift certificates again this year, and Schmeltzer wants to increase both dollar amounts. “Even people spending a million dollars love to save money,” she says. “They count the pennies — that's how they get them.”

Acheron Construction, Dallas, supplements its holiday festivities with an annual letter to subcontractors and vendors. The 2003 letter thanked them for their fine work that year, projected a successful year to come, and revisited company standards — “the extra steps we take to ensure the success of each project we produce.”

The typed letter comes from president Alex Dahlgren, who also handwrites a brief personal note to each recipient. “This isn't the time to pound on people too much,” he explains. “I think the letter continues to reinforce that they're very important to us and we're working on this as a team.” He adds that it beats just sending out a card that says “Acheron Construction.”