If you think your customers will be impressed when  you send them a card of appreciation with your logo and glamor shot, you should see how they react when they open that card of appreciation that contains familiar faces of the ones they love.

Just by accident I discovered that 3rd party appreciation is very powerful. Often times I take pictures of clients or their house and I put it in a card. Well sometimes I can't always do this so I'll take pictures of their pets or children.  I was surprised at the positive reactions I got.

People need you to appreciate them and the cards are perfect for that. But if you take it to the next level and show appreciation for the ones they love, then your a hero for life. It's like proxy appreciation but it's more powerful than direct appreciation. If you think about it, it makes sense. What doting parent or pet owner wouldn't appreciate you showing kindness to their child or pet?

Loved ones are very important to them and they really are appreciative when you remember that. I even send birthday cards to their pets if I know the birthday. I often snap pictures of the pets (they never mind) while I'm at the house and put it in the card and address it to the pet. If you think clients like when you appreciate them, you should see how much they like it when you honor their loved ones. It's a huge hit and garners lots of referrals for me.

I use Sendoutcards.com to do this because it's so cheap, creative, original, easy and they do all the remembering for me. It's been my experience that these personal greeting cards cut through the competitive clutter of fridge magnets, calendars and other worn out commercial gimmicks and it completely circumvents the bombardment of Internet e-mails, pay-per-click, etc.

Here's a couple of actual samples I've sent.

Valentines card from pet to their human, via me

These people actually have a birthday party for their doggie.

 To human from their pet, compliments of a little help from me.

I've got tons of kids cards to but you get the idea. I'll often send a mothers day card with a photo of their child. Trust me when I say, this is powerful, THEY DO NOT THROW THESE CARDS AWAY. As fine looking as you may be, they would much rather have a photo card of their child or pet. 3rd party cards like this create a powerful and lasting association between you and the ones they love.