You have no doubt walked into a business of nearly any kind around the time of the year-end holidays, and you’ve observed a number of Christmas, Channukkah, or non-religious cards taped on the receptionist’s desk or on the wall of the lobby or waiting space.

These cards are not located in the employee lunchroom, or in the personnel office. No, these cards are often placed exactly where consumers and other visitors can see them.

Why is this? There is a basic cause: social reinforcement is great for organization. And intelligent businesspeople should understand this point as nicely as anybody.

A slew of cards – the a lot more the merrier – which covers the wall sends a quite powerful message to the impact that the sender of the card feels that she has a private relationship with the recipient of the card and that the recipient should as a result be open to private messages of greetings and very good wishes. In other words, the sender of the card wishes to assert a private bond with the receiver, and this reinforces the organization relationship.

The recipient then places this flock of cards in a place where other individuals – vendors, distributors, buyers, potential clients – could not possibly miss it.

The recipient will note which vendors or suppliers do this and which do not. It may not make a very significant difference, but the thought is that it certainly can’t hurt.

If you are a supplier or vendor who is dependent upon the business decisions of other people, then you are dependent upon great will. The presence or absence of excellent will has consequences. The presence of great will means that a decision maker could award a job to you instead of to a competitor. Good will is good organization.

You as a vendor or supplier should take advantage of this social reinforcement phenomenon and make sure that you have a great holiday card plan. It doesn’t have to be an overtly Christmas-y card, but it can be.

If it’s a Jewish-owned business, and you are sending the card to the owner, a Christmas card might not make sense and you may possibly hesitate to send that but there is no reason you cannot get a card which reflects the sentiments of the Jewish religion, even if you are Christian. No 1 could possibly come across that offensive in any way. It would, in fact, be regarded as a compliment.

Another crucial point right here is to make certain that there is no mistaking who sent the card. If you have a difficult time writing your name legibly, make sure it really is printed on the card. A personal handwritten message from a crucial individual in your enterprise to a important selection maker in the company you are sending it to is also a excellent factor to do.

Or, if there are numerous folks in your firm who deal with people in the recipient firm on a regular basis, messages from each of your employees to their counterparts may well be a excellent way to complete the card.

The point is that a wonderful holiday card program really should be designed to boost the company relationship by showing some degree of individual regard for those with whom you do company.