Here’S A Way I Decided To Introduce Sendoutcards

Here’s a way I decided to introduce SendOutCards

to my family and friends after Christmas ‘09…

(This greeting card is being mailed late January, 2010)

Cover of the 3-panel greeting card:

PANEL 1

Dear _____,

Dear (first name),

Our family rang in the New Year on a Mexican Riviera cruise. It was great to be completely unplugged (no internet, phone, pagers, etc.) for 10 days. We came back refreshed and ready to start the New Year. We all enjoyed swimming with the dolphins in Puerto Vallarta – something that has been on my “bucket” list for a long time!

Before Christmas, I got into a discussion with a friend who asked me some questions about what I have been doing professionally for the last few years. In our annual holiday update we have made mention of this, but have intentionally not shared much about it.

PANEL 2

A friend recently asked me about SendOutCards, so I provided some information. She told me she was disappointed that I had not told her more about it before now, because it’s something that will save her time and money and help her be more effective at staying in touch with important people in her personal and professional life. She berated me for not telling her about it sooner. I explained that I did not want to “pitch” my business offerings to friends and family. That’s when she told me that I was doing a disservice to NOT share information about SOC with those I am closest to. She suggested that I tell our family and friends about it …so here it is. If this does not interest you, please toss this card. It won’t hurt my feelings.

PANEL 3

Right now you are holding the product of SendOutCards. This card cost me less than a dollar. I never left my desk to send this. I loaded our own digital picture on the front, added a frame and a caption, typed this message, selected my own handwriting font and signature, and checked off a list of who in my contact manager I wanted this to be sent to. SendOutCards did the rest. They merged your first name into the salutation, printed the card, addressed and stamped the envelope, and took it to the post office for me, all for 93 cents plus a stamp. I sent this card to 53 selected friends and family members with one click of a mouse (total time investment was just a few minutes).

PANEL 4 (outside flip)

SendOutCards is a product and a service, all wrapped into one. The three of us have been using our SOC account for four years, and it is one of the best relationship-building tools I’ve ever found.

I am happy to email you some information if you have interest in learning more. I invite you to try it for free. How about sending a Valentine to someone you love? Email me to learn more and to receive an access link to send a few free cards, or feel free to give me a call.

Love & blessings,

Kathy Paauw

425-881-6627

Below is a copy of the message I have prepared when friends and family request more information. You have my permission to use any parts of the card text or the email text that you wish. Be sure you edit all of it, though, as some if it is very specific to my life, and it would be embarrassing for you to just copy and use it as your own without some edits.

Try it and see! Send a few cards (Valentine, thank you, birthday card, etc.) to someone you care about right now, without leaving your home or office. I'll even pay for the cards and stamps!

Here’s how:

§  Visit www.sendoutcards.com/kathy

§  Click on the banner and follow the promptings to set up your free gift account.

§  Turn your speakers on and our CEO will walk you through the steps to send your first card. Or, if you prefer, send me an email with your name, email and phone number, along with a few suggested dates and times when we can connect, and I'll give you a quick tour of the website and help you send your first card.

10 things I love most about SendOutCards

1. I can add my own pictures to the outside and inside of the card. I noticed that most of the holiday cards we got this year had pictures, so I know how popular this feature has become.)

2. I save money. This is a product AND a service all wrapped into one. I pay less than I would spend on a Shoebox card at Hallmark ($.99). Most cards are $3-5 at Hallmark or the grocery store. This customized card you just received from me cost $.93 AND saved me gas and time. If I did not add the picture on the front, it would have cost me only $.62 to send one of the 15,000+ greeting cards that SOC has to choose from in their online catalog.

3. I save time. I don’t have to get in the car, drive to the store, hunt for the perfect card, stand in line, dig around for the address and a stamp, and get it to the post office. You can import your contacts from another database (Outlook, Excel, etc.) and the addresses are all auto-filled for you when SendOutCards prints the card and envelope. For our holiday greetings, I used to have to run labels and my family would spend a whole evening labeling envelopes with the recipient address labels, our return address label and a stamp. Then we folded our holiday letter (which I also had to drive to the store to copy beforehand) and stuffed them in the envelopes, then sealed and got them to the post office. Sound familiar? See comparison at the bottom of this page for more specifics about saving time and money.

4. It’s environmentally friendly. Each year Hallmark and American Greetings throw away hundreds of thousands of cards that never get sold, plus they have to ship and store them all over the world. There’s no waste at SOC, and they use recycled paper to print only the cards you want to use now. I bet you have a whole stash of cards you’ve bought over the past several years and never sent out! (I know I used to do this!) What a waste of time and money I invested in those unused cards. And the intended recipient never got the benefit of knowing I was thinking about them.

5. I can include a gift or gift card with my greeting cards, and I don’t have to waste time or gas to get it in the mail. In the coming year, we will be adding photo gifts (calendars, mugs, puzzles, etc.) and many more new gift options. This option helps me to follow through with ease when I want to send someone appreciation, encouragement, or congratulations (gifts for all occasions are available).

6. There’s a reminder system that prompts me a week before important occasions like birthdays and anniversaries, so I never forget! And I don’t have to get in the car and drive to the store to send the card.

7. For my business, I can stay in touch regularly with very little effort. For example, I can send quarterly cards over the course of the coming year with one single mouse click to an entire group of clients or prospects. The SOC system knows when I want each card sent and each card gets mailed on that date, without me having to remember or lift another finger. When I was on our recent cruise, I wanted some birthday cards to go out while I was gone, so I created the cards before I left and post-dated them so they’d get mailed on the date I wanted them to go out. How cool is that! It’s high tech and high touch all wrapped into one.

8. I can even customize individual cards when I send the “same” card to multiple people. You just create a group and add names to it, then instruct SOC to send a specific card to that group. (This is called a campaign.) Once I click SEND I am done. However, if I want to edit any individual cards within the group or campaign, I may do so before the card gets printed. I did this with some of our Christmas cards. After I clicked SEND, I went back into individual cards and added a sentence or two to personalize the card to that specific recipient.
Once you have your contact information imported or entered into the system and you've submitted your own handwriting font and signatures, you can send one card or hundreds of cards at a time, using your own handwriting. It takes me about one minute to type my message and click send. The name and address is already filled in for me.

9. Only 3% of our mail is personal anymore. The e-cards I’ve been receiving lately in my email inbox have been laden with viruses, so I have quit opening most of them. A real paper greeting card is so much more meaningful to receive. When I am prompted to stay what’s on my heart, it’s so easy to follow through with my good intentions and send a real paper card in the mail. I’ve always considered myself to be a thoughtful person, but I did not often follow through with those thoughts. Now I do! One of the new habits I have formed is to begin each day by sending a card of gratitude to someone I care about. It’s a great way to start my day on a positive note, which sets the tone for my whole day. It also does wonders for my personal and professional relationships!

10.  For those looking for a way to earn income, I am happy to share more information. I decided to go full time with SendOutCards in 2009, after my income from SOC had steadily surpassed what I was earning from my 13-year-old business. Today I still offer coaching and consulting services (what I’ve been doing all these years), but only to my SOC team members who have decided to build a team and want to work more productively and effectively. They get my coaching and consulting for free!

COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS

(postage cost NOT included in any of the comparative costs below)

SendOutCards:

Cost for a SendOutCards customized photo card (which includes them printing, addressing, stuffing, stamping, and delivering it to the post office for you):

• Wholesale: $.93
• Retail: $1.47

Cost for a SendOutCards greeting card (selected from card catalog of 15,000+):

• Wholesale: $.62
• Retail: $.98

As you compare the costs with other cards, remember the cost of your TIME in addition to the dollar cost for these cards. SendOutCards offers a product (card) AND a service (printing, stuffing, addressing, stamping, and taking to the post office for you), for a lower price than most of the the companies below.

Other photo card providers:

Some of the Christmas cards we received this year were created by these companies, and I looked up the cost just to give a comparison of what some of our friends and family are already using. These cards are generally more expensive than SendOutCards, AND they do not include the service that comes with a SendOutCards greeting card. With these cards, you have to write your message and/or sign EACH card, then address, stuff, stamp and mail each one...or send it with no personal message and just the printed generic message or names. So these cards cost more, AND there's more work required to get them in the mail.

Shutterfly:

Cost for a photo greeting card, including envelope: $1.57 - $1.70 per card, plus your time to prepare and mail it yourself.

TinyPrints:

Cost for a photo greeting card, including envelope: $1.23 - $1.49 per card, plus your time to prepare and mail it yourself.

HitePhoto

Cost for a photo greeting card, including envelope: $1.69 per card (if you order at least 50), plus your time to pick them up (this company is in Michigan), prepare and mail them yourself.

Fujifilm Picture Cards
Cost for photo greeting postcard (not a folded greeting card): $.89 per card, plus your time to prepare and mail them yourself. Not really designed well for including a personal message.

There are other online offerings that enable you to design your own greeting card, but you have to print it yourself (toner or ink and paper costs are yours), and this requires a lot of time, too. And you still have to address, stuff, stamp and get it to the post office.

For more information, contact:

Kathy Paauw

SendOutCards Executive

425-881-6627