The Mom Entrepreneur: How to Easily Keep in Touch with Your Network

Have you heard of the company Send Out Cards? I like the concept. A website that allows you to pick and personalize a card, add a gift if you want and then the company takes care of printing and sending. As a mom entrepreneur, I have a large network of people I work with and communicate with through both of my companies. A service like this can be extremely useful for managing your network, keeping in touch and saying thank you. In this economy, I feel we can all do a better job of telling our clients, vendors, people who refer us business and others how much we appreciate them.

Ja (pronounced Jay) Thomas, mother of two daughters and an independent distributor with Send Out Cards is also a member of The Mom Entrepreneur Online Support Group. I recently asked her if she would write an article about how we could use her service to increase and strengthen our relationships with our networks. I am a busy mom like all of you reading my blog, however, we would not be successful entrepreneurs if it were not for our networks.

How to Easily Keep in Touch with Your Network - By Ja Thomas

If you are anything like me, your head is filled with good intentions. Good intentions include sending a thank you note to the customer that made a large purchase, the friend who gave you a referral or a fellow business owner you met with and would like to build a relationship with. Eventually good intentions turn into feelings of guilt when you don't send a note. I have two small children and the thought of dragging them to the card store does not excite me, let alone finding the time to actually write the note and get it mailed.

As a busy work-at-home mom, I understand the importance of building relationships. According to a study conducted by the Technical Assistance Research Project in Washington DC, 68% of customers leave because of 'perceived indifference'. In other words, customers don’t think you care about their business. I know my customers and clients want and need to be appreciated, remembered and thanked, it’s just that up until now, I had not been able to find a simple way to do that until I learned about Send Out Cards.

Send Out Cards is an online greeting card company. The catch is that while they are online, they

mail out traditional greeting cards with actual lick and stick stamps. The real cards that show up in your mailbox and make your heart do a little skip because someone remembered.

Send Out Cards makes it easy. I simply log in to my account, browse through the card catalog, write my own personal message that shows up in my handwriting, sign the card with my real signature, pick the recipient and hit send. The company prints it, stuffs it, addresses it, stamps it and mails it the next morning! They will even include a gift or a gift card if I choose.

I’ve come to realize that my new system sets me apart from most every other business my customers are working with. Ask yourself, when was the last time you received a hand-written note from someone you met in a business setting? Honestly, I’m receiving thank yous for my thank you notes. More often than not, the recipient will call or email me to say how much they appreciated the card. That is great relationship building!

I don’t include a business card or a coupon when I send the note. There is not even a mention of my business, just a sincere note of good wishes. It seems to mean more to my customers and not come off as an advertisement. Is it working? Yes! It was working so well that I changed my business path and now work with Send Out Cards. My name is the one that pops into my customers’ minds when they think of Send Out Cards and that was my goal. I want my customers to think of me first, refer me to others, and not even have a passing thought about using another company because we’ve built a relationship. Goal accomplished! Next?

For more information about Send Out Cards and to send a few cards for free, visit Ja at www.soclink.com/18747.

TOP TEN REASONS TO USE SEND OUT CARDS