The holidays are the one time of the year when everyone thinks of sending greeting cards. This time of year is also one of the most important to send cards. These tips will help you get more referrals from your cards and avoid some common mistakes.

1. First of all, commercial Christmas cards tend to get more display than any other card you send out.

Whether you’re sending cards to other business professionals or to consumers, we all love to display our cards at the holidays. We can put them on the office shelf, office door, cubicle wall, or our consumer customers will put them on the mantel, refrigerator, or book shelves.

Because our cards are on display, we want to take extra care and make them really stand out. This simple strategy is one of the easiest to ensure we get more referrals.

2. Whatever you do, don’t be boring with your business Christmas cards.

Boring cards purchased from the store will never be picked up or examined. I recommend paying special attention to creating a fun and unique personalized Christmas card. You can use technology like Send Cards to make a fun card out of your photos. Use a photo of the staff having fun instead of a simple logo. Human nature is that we are drawn to photos of people, especially if we are in the photos or know the people in the photos.

If you make it boring, no one will pick it up and ask “Whose is this?” How many opportunities like this do you get for a referral if you send a boring store-bought Christmas card?

3. Send your cards early. Don’t wait until the last minute!

What happens during the holidays? Christmas holidays! If your Christmas card is your first and it’s fun and interesting, it will definitely be on display. When people come to the holiday party, many more will see your card and have a chance to collect it. If you send it in late, there may not be room left on the shelf for your card. Not only that, but it can happen after the Christmas holidays are over. By procrastinating and submitting your card late, you will have missed out on free referrals.

4. Send yourself a test card NOW.

Since we are talking about personalized business Christmas cards, it is important that you send a proof now. Don’t wait until the last minute. That way, you have a chance to test it and make changes before you ship it to your customers. There’s nothing worse than sending 300 personalized Christmas cards to clients only to realize you had an obvious misspelling or your photos aren’t printing correctly.

5. You’ll have a much better chance of getting your card on display if you use a vertical layout rather than a horizontal one.

Since Christmas cards tend to be on display, you want to make sure not to use a horizontal layout. Since horizontal cards tend to fall off easily, they won’t show up for long. Also, you can place more vertical cards on a bookcase or mantelpiece so you have a better chance of them being selected for display.

6. Do not ask for references in your company’s Christmas cards.

If you ask for references in my Christmas card, I know you didn’t really “give a fuck about” you. I know you’re only sending me this to try to get more referrals.

You want your customers to feel that you care about them. If you make them feel like you don’t care, then they won’t trust you with referrals!

By following the tips outlined above, you’ll create fun and interesting Christmas cards, and naturally you’ll get referrals from them. Just by having fun and letting your customers know that you are a real person, you will get more referrals.