Running a PC repair business has it challenges and rewards.  All year long you strive to grow your list of clients, provide them with excellent service and go out of your way to put out the fires that threaten to put them – and you, out of business.  When you’ve survived, and want to show your gratitude for making it through another year, your thoughts will turn to those clients, vendors and employees who made it possible.  As the year ends, sending out a holiday greeting card is one way to show you care.  But have you noticed how impersonal they can be?  Last year, without giving it much thought, a new business owner sent out cards he bought in bulk from a discounter who sent him a circular.  Problem is, the same day his cards went into the mail, he opened one from his top client, and it was the exact same card he’d just mailed to them.  A more thoughtful holiday greeting would be to send a gift from a company like Omaha Steaks.  Sure, it would cost a little more, but you might get much more in return.  Actually, giving a gift of that caliber doesn’t have to break your budget.  If you use Groupons to trim a little off the cost of those gifts, you’ll find it’s well worth the price you paid.

Why would you want to give a steak to a client?  You don’t have to.  You could thank them for giving you a slice of their business with a cheesecake sampler.   Omaha Steaks is well known for the dry-aged steaks, chops, and other juicy cuts of meat they’ve sold for decades, but now they offer so much more.  You can choose from their wide selection of wines, desserts and they even have gifts tailored toward employees, customers, and partners.   Seems like sending a gift from Omaha Steaks might not be that original after all, but the reason they continue to offer them is because, so many people appreciate them.

And here’s a business etiquette tip:  When you clients announce a change in name or location have your bookkeeper update those changes right away.  That same business owner who sent that tacky Christmas card addressed it to the attention of the former CEO.  The one the feds hauled off to jail.