A great 'keeper' card example is this fine black and white image of Lilly Pond by Chip Forelli:
Or this one of an idyllic fishing scene by Andy Anderson:
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Shelf Life Guaranteed By Business Greeting Card Images
I wish we could legally guarantee shelf life, or refrigerator life, or desk life of these client cards, because that would be the secret to business nirvana for our little company. However, you'll just have to BELIEVE! These images are so beautiful that the recipients, valued clients all, will have a hard time throwing them out.
A great 'keeper' card example is this fine black and white image of Lilly Pond by Chip Forelli:
Or this one of an idyllic fishing scene by Andy Anderson:
A great 'keeper' card example is this fine black and white image of Lilly Pond by Chip Forelli:
Or this one of an idyllic fishing scene by Andy Anderson:
Harry Beckwith on Being Competitive
Trying to understand what motivates people and why they choose one product or service over another seemingly identical one?
This obsesses "Harry Beckwith – best selling author of "What Clients Love."
The following are Harry truisms about the topic of being competitive these days:
• Your biggest competitor is not a competitor; it's your prospect's indifference.
• Your second-biggest competitor is not a competitor; it's your prospect's distrust.
• Prospects decide in the first five seconds.
• Prospects don't try to make the best choice. They try to make the most comfortable choice.
• At heart, every prospect is risk-averse. Risks are always more vivid than rewards.
• Don't create something that everyone likes; create something that many will love.
• Your most valuable salesperson is the person who answers your phones.
• You must improve constantly, because people's expectations rise constantly.
• Whatever you are doing, do it faster. Speed always sells.
• People don't care how good you are. They care how good you can make them.
• The best companies don't make the fewest mistakes; they make the best corrections. • You cannot convince someone you have a superior product at a low price. Make up your mind.
• Despite all the warnings, all people judge books by their covers.
• People hear what they see; you must communicate visually.
• When in doubt -- which is almost always -- people choose what feels familiar.
• If it takes 50 words to make your pitch, I will buy from the person who can do it in 20.
• People don't learn from descriptions. They learn from stories.
This obsesses "Harry Beckwith – best selling author of "What Clients Love."The following are Harry truisms about the topic of being competitive these days:
• Your biggest competitor is not a competitor; it's your prospect's indifference.
• Your second-biggest competitor is not a competitor; it's your prospect's distrust.
• Prospects decide in the first five seconds.
• Prospects don't try to make the best choice. They try to make the most comfortable choice.
• At heart, every prospect is risk-averse. Risks are always more vivid than rewards.
• Don't create something that everyone likes; create something that many will love.
• Your most valuable salesperson is the person who answers your phones.
• You must improve constantly, because people's expectations rise constantly.
• Whatever you are doing, do it faster. Speed always sells.
• People don't care how good you are. They care how good you can make them.
• The best companies don't make the fewest mistakes; they make the best corrections. • You cannot convince someone you have a superior product at a low price. Make up your mind.
• Despite all the warnings, all people judge books by their covers.
• People hear what they see; you must communicate visually.
• When in doubt -- which is almost always -- people choose what feels familiar.
• If it takes 50 words to make your pitch, I will buy from the person who can do it in 20.
• People don't learn from descriptions. They learn from stories.
Business Greeting Card Imagery - Shelf Life Rules
We are pleased to have developed relationships with 30 great photographers from North America, Japan and Europe, who have all graciously agreed to license to us what we consider to be some of their career best work. We are purposefully choosing only those images that are timeless and classic, as opposed to what the competition offers, which is usually silly, forgettable and seasonal.
You will not see the typical ‘stock’ images here. These artists sell signed prints of these images in galleries around the world, and are published in prestigious magazines such as National Geographic. So, we are putting in place an unprecedented collection of fine art photography that will maximize the shelf life of your client cards.
The quality of color produced by our Hewlett Packard Indigo printers is truly amazing, making all of these card images extremely difficult to throw away. Rather the likely reaction by your clients is to keep your cards prominently displayed on the desktop. Don’t be surprised to hear that the card has been framed. It’s happened many times.
This has been a great year for discovering new talent.
Check out our gallery for more of the work of Seattle based photographer Doug Landreth, whose awesome Christmas image is featured on the cover of our new catalog. We have licensed a dozen of his images for you to consider as client cards. Fine art photographers often 'swap images. I had the pleasure of swapping one of my images for one of Doug's flower images. We have it hanging in our kitchen!
You will not see the typical ‘stock’ images here. These artists sell signed prints of these images in galleries around the world, and are published in prestigious magazines such as National Geographic. So, we are putting in place an unprecedented collection of fine art photography that will maximize the shelf life of your client cards.
The quality of color produced by our Hewlett Packard Indigo printers is truly amazing, making all of these card images extremely difficult to throw away. Rather the likely reaction by your clients is to keep your cards prominently displayed on the desktop. Don’t be surprised to hear that the card has been framed. It’s happened many times.
This has been a great year for discovering new talent.
Check out our gallery for more of the work of Seattle based photographer Doug Landreth, whose awesome Christmas image is featured on the cover of our new catalog. We have licensed a dozen of his images for you to consider as client cards. Fine art photographers often 'swap images. I had the pleasure of swapping one of my images for one of Doug's flower images. We have it hanging in our kitchen!
Coaching On The Client Greeting Card
Those of you who have been with us from the beginning have worked primarily with me to compose your notes, get your mailing lists uploaded, and put through your orders. As well, I’ve guided you on how to use the personal note as a relationship building, prospecting and networking tool.
That kind of one-to-one advice and team support is now available through our Personal Note Coaches. We will be introducing you to these talented folk over the next few months, here in the blog, by card, and by phone. They were hired for their great organizational skills, and of course because they write very well.
I will be in the background helping them as they work with you to compose notes that retain your personal voice while being great to read.
Why organizational skills? A great business has processes in place. With your permission, your Note Coaches will take on the responsibility to connect with you and your team consistently, over time, year after year, to help make sure your client greeting card mailings are a reliable, dependable process that will help you build a great client-oriented business.
That kind of one-to-one advice and team support is now available through our Personal Note Coaches. We will be introducing you to these talented folk over the next few months, here in the blog, by card, and by phone. They were hired for their great organizational skills, and of course because they write very well.I will be in the background helping them as they work with you to compose notes that retain your personal voice while being great to read.
Why organizational skills? A great business has processes in place. With your permission, your Note Coaches will take on the responsibility to connect with you and your team consistently, over time, year after year, to help make sure your client greeting card mailings are a reliable, dependable process that will help you build a great client-oriented business.
The Relationship Edge
Jerry Acuff and Wally Wood have published an updated version of their book The Relationship Edge. It's well written and worth reading if you believe that relationships are important to business success. Most people believe that, but few of us learn much about building relationships from our employers. As a result we are left to figure out by ourselves how to build and maintain key relationships.
There are 6 stages of increasingly important relationship 'status':People who don't know me by name
People who know me by name
People who like me
People who are friendly with me
People who respect me *
People who value a relationship with me *
* These last 2 stages are where you want to be with key business contacts.
The book describes how to move up that value ladder. The best way to do so is to start asking questions and listening hard to the answers. There are many questions to ask, but below are some listed by Acuff as particularly important.
Interestingly, we coach our business greeting card customers to 'answer' some of these questions in their seasonal notes, so that the readers, their clients, can get to know the advisor better. The answers to the first set of questions below in particular make for great note reading.
What do you do when you are not working?
What do you enjoy reading when you have spare time
Tell me something about your family.
What sports do you enjoy watching?
What sports, if any, do you enjoy participating in?
Tell me something about yourself that would surprise me.
How did you decide to settle in your area?
Other questions that are important to ask include:
What things do you want to do more of, but don't have time for?
What is the most frustrating thing about being in your business these days?
If all work paid the same, and you could do it again, what would you do?
What challenges or issues in your work might I be able to help you with?
This book is a great starting place if you want to understand the relationship building processes you can follow. You can see more about the Acuff philosophy here: The Relationship Edge
Talk FORM - Family, Occupation, Recreation, Money
Initial conversations with a prospective client can follow a format that reveals the essence of a person quickly. If you trade back and forth during this conversation, and answer the questions as they relate to yourself, after your hear the prospect's answer, you will tighten the relationship bond even further.
There are 4 questions that will open up a conversation easily. FORM is how I used to remember the order of the 4 big questions when I was in the Investment Advisor business. Family - Occupation - Recreation & Money.
F: Ask about their family and then tell them about yours
O: Ask them about their job. Compare notes about how your jobs compare or differ.
R: Ask them what they do outside of work for fun. Sports, hobbies, volunteer work. Talk a bit about what you have in common.
M: For Investment advisors, of course Money is the key topic, but it shouldn't be discussed till you have gotten to know the person, so it comes last. For non-investment advisors, the M can be Motivation, not Money, where the discussion might be about politics, or religion.
You should be able to have a great initial conversation around these 4 questions, and of course, these same questions can be revisited in future meetings to form the basis of the next conversation.
Mitch Anthony, author of StorySelling, has this to say about the above:
There are 4 questions that will open up a conversation easily. FORM is how I used to remember the order of the 4 big questions when I was in the Investment Advisor business. Family - Occupation - Recreation & Money.
F: Ask about their family and then tell them about yours
O: Ask them about their job. Compare notes about how your jobs compare or differ.
R: Ask them what they do outside of work for fun. Sports, hobbies, volunteer work. Talk a bit about what you have in common.
M: For Investment advisors, of course Money is the key topic, but it shouldn't be discussed till you have gotten to know the person, so it comes last. For non-investment advisors, the M can be Motivation, not Money, where the discussion might be about politics, or religion.
You should be able to have a great initial conversation around these 4 questions, and of course, these same questions can be revisited in future meetings to form the basis of the next conversation.
Mitch Anthony, author of StorySelling, has this to say about the above:
Your level of inquiry reveals your level of interest in the client.
If you don’t invest in sufficient discovery, you appear to be more interested in pushing a product than you are in helping your client.
The laws of intelligent selling:
- The more you learn about the experiences and views of your clients, the more weight they will give to your experience and views.
- People like being asked.
- People like to talk about their life.
- People respect you for asking.
- People feel more important because you asked.
Personal notes to clients - tip sheet
One highly effective tool for connecting with all clients at the personal level, while keeping communication costs down, is the personal update note, inside your client greeting cards. Sharing a little bit of personal information about you and your life - as a person, rather than as an advisor - can help all of your clients get to know the real you better. The better clients feel they know you, the longer the relationship will last.
Here are 15 tips for using the client greeting card well.
1) The client greeting card is a great way to connect with all of your clients, simultaneously, at the all important personal level. This connection can only happen when you add a personal note to your greeting cards. We suggest you add a note of six to eight sentences or so. We’ll show you how to do this without your wrist collapsing. Read on.
2) To reinforce point 1, consider carefully the age-old wisdom of
3) Your note will be memorable and effective, only if it is personal in content. Write about your life, hobbies, travels, family, and pets. Don’t write about business.
4) If you want to promote your business, write a letter. Reserve the greeting card for personal communication only. Business content in a personal card is as bad as a signature-only card. However, you can include a useful value added insert of interest which may well be business related.
5) The P.S. is the highest read part of the card. Don’t forget to use it.
6) The birthday (or account opening anniversary) card, and two personal update notes a year, is the perfect mailing frequency to maintain and cultivate your many client relationships at the personal level. Any more than 3 cards a year is too much. Any less is probably too little.
7) Personal update notes should ideally be spaced about 6 months apart. For example, send one on July 4th, and one again at Christmas, or one at Easter, and another at Thanksgiving.
8) When sending birthday cards to married couples, you need to treat each person in the relationship as a unique individual. Never send the identical birthday card to both of them. Change up the note content as well.
9) Clients want to hear your ‘voice’ when they read your card, so write as you speak. Read your note out loud. If you don’t sound natural, re-write it.
10) Make your sentences easy to read. Cut out all excess verbiage. Simplify.
11) Motherhood stuff like “Have a great year.” or “Isn’t the weather awful lately?” all are a waste of ink. Get real. Be personal. Your clients want to read something about the real you.
12) Always sign the card yourself. Don’t ask your assistant to do that for you. Use a greeting card
13) Never use mailing labels or postage machines for a personal note-card. Each short cut diminishes the personal touch significantly. Laser address your envelopes, and hand apply a real stamp.
14) Your master mailing list should represent the essence of your career’s past and future. Be sure to include not only all of your clients, but also your own personal advisors, key centers of influence, important allies, back office supporters and front office VIPs. Warning: don’t cheap out and just send the cards to a certain percentage of your clients. No matter how well you have segmented your clients, the C’s are going to know the A’s, and since your client list is ‘a small world’, this means that you will hurt or disappoint those C’s and D’s who didn’t get a card, but do know a client who received one. Besides, what are you doing with clients that you can’t afford to spend $10 a year on? Fire them if they aren’t worth a card!
15) A good rule of thumb for who should and shouldn’t be on your greeting card mailing list? The people who belong on your personal mailing list are those who know your voice on the phone. We suggest you keep 99% of your prospects off this personal relationship list.
Walden Pond, by Tim Laman
Tim Laman, one of our finest photographers, shot these
images at Walden Pond, not too far from where he lives.
We have a dozen new images by Tim of Walden Pond to
introduce as Thanksgiving and Christmas cards. These
are from a future book project on Walden Pond by Tim.
images at Walden Pond, not too far from where he lives.
We have a dozen new images by Tim of Walden Pond to
introduce as Thanksgiving and Christmas cards. These
are from a future book project on Walden Pond by Tim.
Why Clients Fire Advisors
"Of all the affluent clients who fired their investment representative, 87% did so because of the relationship, while only 13% fired their investment rep because of poor investment performance.
In fact, clients will leave even when investment performance is high. 96% of clients who fired their representative because of the relationship, were “very happy” with their investment performance." - Russ Alan Prince and Hanna Shaw Grove
Women and Money
- 42% of households with assets over $600,000 are headed by women.
- Women own 1/2 of all small businesses worth more than $8 million.
- Women earn over 1/2 of all bachelor’s and master’s degrees.
- 90% of all women will eventually be in charge of household finances.
Ask Yourself: Are You Good At Questioning?
John Melchinger is a well known coach to advisors. Here's an excerpt from his latest newsletter: 
No matter what type of selling or consulting you may do, the questions you ask are often more important than the statements you make. How many times have your own prospects and clients demonstrated this by stating things like, "That's a good question" or "You are asking the right questions" and "These are tough decisions to make, but I'm glad you're raising these issues"?
Good questions enhance marketing and selling. These principles apply:
1) The buyer makes the decision to buy.The advisor must lead the buyer through the buying process.
2) Work through the process together. Collaborate with the client.
3) Your relationship is critical to the ultimate outcome: making the sale. Trust is key.
4) When you are in control, you are in charge. The one who asks the questions is the one who has control.
5) You show the importance of your question by how well you listen to the answer.
Of all the nuances, rules, regulations and styles that apply to the various forms of advising, the one inescapable truth is that the sale is most often made in the questioning process. " From Melchinger On Marketing
Googling 101
Google is part of our lives. Time to get better at it than just typing in your name! First off, check this out - it's Google's own How To page.
I have added 8 tips from that Google page to supplement the most excellent "12 Quick Tips To Search Google Like An Expert" blog, which was posted by Dharmesh Shah of Small Business Hub earlier this year. (Great blog by the way).
Explicit Phrase: Enclose the search phrase within double quotes. Example: "internet marketing"
Exclude Words: To search for content but to exclude results that contain a term - use the "-" sign in front of the word you want to exclude. Example Search: internet marketing -advertising
Site Specific Search: To search a specific website for content that matches a certain phrase simply use the "site:somesite.com" modifier. Example: "birthday cards" site:www.longtermclients.com
Similar Words and Synonyms: o include a word in your search, and to display results that contain similar words or synonyms - use the "~" in front of the word. Example: "greeting cards" ~professional
Specific Document Types: To find results of a specific type, use the modifier "filetype:". To find only PowerPoint presentations related to internet marketing, do this: "internet marketing" filetype:ppt
This OR That: Find all the terms specified in a search. If you are looking for one or more terms that match or are close, - use the OR operator. (Note: The OR must be capitalized). Example: internet marketing OR advertising
Phone Listing: Look up phone numbers on Google using the phonebook feature. Example: phonebook:617-555-1212
Area Code Lookup: To look-up the location of an area code enter the 3-digit area code and Google will tell you where it’s from. Example: 617
Stock Symbol: Enter a valid symbol and Google will give you the current financials and a quick thumb-nail chart for the stock. Example: GOOG
Calculator: To do a quick calculation, type your expression in to Google. Example: 48512 * 1.02
Word Definitions: To define a word or phrase, use the "define:" command. Example: define:plethora
Convert: Examples: "72F in C" "100cm in inches" "100 US gallons in UK gallons" "100bar in psi"
Local Time: "Time in Tokyo" or any major city displays the local time
Currency Convertsion: Example: 100 GBP in USD
Weather: "Weather (zip code)" gives the forecast. Ex. "weather 20500". Or use the city if you don't know the zip. Example: "weather in Detroit"
Travel: Type the airport's three letter code followed by "airport." For San Francisco delays and weather conditions - type in "sfo airport."
Questions: Got a question? Type it in. Example: population of Japan
Shopping: Want a pizza? Sushi? Type it in and your city. Example: Sushi Boston
full credit: Small Business Hub blog by Darmesh Sharma. Subscribe!
Client Retention is the Goal of Client Communications
Every so often you should think through how and why you are communicating the way that you do. The ultimate goal of a client communications program is what? To keep your clients up to date with what you are thinking? Or to help the clients understand what you offer?
Yes, those are significant goals. But are they the ultimate goals? Some might say the goal is to sell, but if it is, then the communication won't last. People will unsubscribe, or stop reading, if all you are doing is selling.
Take it down to the core reasoning for communicating. The fundamental reason to communicate with clients (beyond the communication you do in the day to day delivery of your service) is to build and maintain an ongoing connection - to keep the bonds strong.
Isn't that the key motivation? If you think about it that way, then the ultimate goal is to keep clients feeling connected to you, the professional, or to you the business. There's no gray areas at the fundamental basic level. It's black and white. The goal of your communications expenditures is to keep the clients around!
So, if that is true then your communications program should be in support of helping your clients stay with you. Whatever reasons there are for staying with you have to logically be tied back to how you communicate.
In the professional services arena, assuming your professional services are adequate to hold your clients loyalty, clients choose to stay with you for the long term because they respect you, they like you, they are comfortable with you, and they find you interesting.
In other words, if you can bear to admit for a minute that your professional services are almost a commodity, then the real glue in your client relationships is you - do your clients enjoy you enough to stay with you.
So, I am asking you to carefully consider how you spend your money on your client communications. If you are sending out sterile newsletters you didn't write, but have your picture on the top right corner - then you are wasting your money.
If you are sending out anything to your clients that is not clearly from you, or written by you, and does not contain your 'voice' in the communication, then it truly is a total waste of money.
Whatever you do in the client communications realm, be sure to do as much as possible by yourself. If you don't, and choose to let some ghost writer do it for you, then you are diminishing your personal brand.
To the client reading something not written by you, but sent as if it is from you, it is clear you are very obviously making a token effort. They know you didn't write that. And if they know that, what are they thinking in addition to that conclusion? The answer is they are thinking you have nothing to say of original value.
From the clients' point of view, getting a newsletter paid for by you that was clearly written by Marketing and edited by Compliance, and is totally devoid of the real you - is exactly the same as receiving a Season's Greetings card with nothing but a Hallmarkian platitude. It's an insult. It means - "Hey, at least you are on my mailing list!" That's not good enough. There is no bonding value. In fact it may well have a negative effect on your client relationships.
Yes, those are significant goals. But are they the ultimate goals? Some might say the goal is to sell, but if it is, then the communication won't last. People will unsubscribe, or stop reading, if all you are doing is selling.
Take it down to the core reasoning for communicating. The fundamental reason to communicate with clients (beyond the communication you do in the day to day delivery of your service) is to build and maintain an ongoing connection - to keep the bonds strong.
Isn't that the key motivation? If you think about it that way, then the ultimate goal is to keep clients feeling connected to you, the professional, or to you the business. There's no gray areas at the fundamental basic level. It's black and white. The goal of your communications expenditures is to keep the clients around!
So, if that is true then your communications program should be in support of helping your clients stay with you. Whatever reasons there are for staying with you have to logically be tied back to how you communicate.
In the professional services arena, assuming your professional services are adequate to hold your clients loyalty, clients choose to stay with you for the long term because they respect you, they like you, they are comfortable with you, and they find you interesting.
In other words, if you can bear to admit for a minute that your professional services are almost a commodity, then the real glue in your client relationships is you - do your clients enjoy you enough to stay with you.
So, I am asking you to carefully consider how you spend your money on your client communications. If you are sending out sterile newsletters you didn't write, but have your picture on the top right corner - then you are wasting your money.
If you are sending out anything to your clients that is not clearly from you, or written by you, and does not contain your 'voice' in the communication, then it truly is a total waste of money.
Whatever you do in the client communications realm, be sure to do as much as possible by yourself. If you don't, and choose to let some ghost writer do it for you, then you are diminishing your personal brand.
To the client reading something not written by you, but sent as if it is from you, it is clear you are very obviously making a token effort. They know you didn't write that. And if they know that, what are they thinking in addition to that conclusion? The answer is they are thinking you have nothing to say of original value.
From the clients' point of view, getting a newsletter paid for by you that was clearly written by Marketing and edited by Compliance, and is totally devoid of the real you - is exactly the same as receiving a Season's Greetings card with nothing but a Hallmarkian platitude. It's an insult. It means - "Hey, at least you are on my mailing list!" That's not good enough. There is no bonding value. In fact it may well have a negative effect on your client relationships.
New Client Birthday Card Photos
Recently we recruited Michael Wiess as one of our select group of fine art photographers. Michael is a commercial photographer whose clients include Coca-Cola, IBM, Ricoh, Kraft Foods, Pepsi-Cola, Pizza Hut, Hasbro Toys and others. He lives and works in Bedford New York.
Here are some floral images of Michael Weiss that we are adding to our collection:
Iris - Sepia Toned
Ivory Rose
Pink Tulip
Regarding Client Birthday Cards:
We suggest you send an entirely different photograph/card to the men than what you send to the women, when it comes to birthday cards. It only makes sense to treat each person within a couple as separate individuals.
To do this, we have to work with two sets of birthday mailing lists - one for men and one for women. Our Note Coaches help our customers compose different birthday notes for each list, and help choose an appropriate card for each group.
Without being too sexist, we have found that for women's birthday images, flowers are in hot demand. Flower images are hard to do well. We see a lot of them when reviewing potential photographers for our artist list, but rarely do we find work that is done not only well, but with a 'viewpoint' or style that is unique.
Here are some floral images of Michael Weiss that we are adding to our collection:
Tulip In Vase
Iris - Sepia Toned 
Ivory Rose
Pink Tulip
Regarding Client Birthday Cards:
We suggest you send an entirely different photograph/card to the men than what you send to the women, when it comes to birthday cards. It only makes sense to treat each person within a couple as separate individuals.
To do this, we have to work with two sets of birthday mailing lists - one for men and one for women. Our Note Coaches help our customers compose different birthday notes for each list, and help choose an appropriate card for each group.
Without being too sexist, we have found that for women's birthday images, flowers are in hot demand. Flower images are hard to do well. We see a lot of them when reviewing potential photographers for our artist list, but rarely do we find work that is done not only well, but with a 'viewpoint' or style that is unique.
How To Write A Condolence Note To Clients
Leonard M Zunin and Hilary Stanton Zunin, in their book The Art of Condolence identified the key components to a good condolence letter. We quote liberally from this classic, to help advisors know what to say when a client or client spouse passes away.
A good condolence letter or note is one that speaks from the heart. Use these guidelines as a starting point for writing your condolence note or letter. What's important is that you write what feels right as opposed to a script or a platitude.
Most grief experts agree that a good condolence or sympathy note contains at least some of the following elements:
l. Acknowledge the loss.
I was sorry to hear of your recent bereavement.
I was very upset to hear of your loss.
I wanted to write and tell you how sorry I am for your loss.
I was so sorry to hear about the tragic circumstances surrounding X's death.
I was terribly sorry to learn about the death of X.
I was saddened to hear of X's death.
It was with a great sense of loss that I learned of X's death.
I was so sad to hear of X's sudden death.
I am writing on behalf of our firm to express our sympathy at your sad loss.
2. Express your sympathy.
Please accept my sympathy for your sad loss.
I want to express my heartfelt sympathy.
X was such a special person that no words are adequate.
X was such a special person and it must be so difficult to come to terms with
the fact he/she died so suddenly.
May it comfort you to know that so many people care and are thinking of you and your family at this time.
May the love of family and friends comfort you.
There are no words to express our heartfelt sympathy to you and your family.
While there is nothing I can say that will ease your loss, I wanted you to know
that I am grieving and thinking of you all.
3. Note special qualities of the deceased or the bereaved.
What started many years ago as a business relationship grew into a friendship. It was a privilege to have known him/her.
She was a wonderful person and I won't forget her thoughtfulness and warmth.
I wish to express my sadness at John?s untimely death. I know your courage and family will help you through this difficult time, but if there is anything I can do to help, please call.
4. End the letter with a thoughtful word, an inspirational quote, a hope, a wish or expression of sympathy.
"You are in my thoughts and prayers."
Remember that "Those who live in the hearts of others never die."
Sample Client Sympathy Notes:
Dear ____,
It is with great sadness that I learned of John?s death.
It was a privilege to have known him, and I appreciated our relationship very much, as a friend as well as a valued client.
I'd like to offer my sincere sympathy to you and your family. If there is anything I can do to help, please let me know.
Dear _____,
Please accept my sincere sympathy on the passing of X. Although he suffered for a long time, it is still a terrible loss for you, though in some respects a blessing.
I will hold you and your family in my thoughts and prayers as you move through the process of grieving and healing.
Dear _____;
Just a quiet word to extend our deepest sympathy to your and your family, and to let you know we are thinking of you.
Sincerely,
Dear _____,
We were shocked to learn of your loss. John's passing will be grieved by all of us here at the firm. I considered him a personal friend and I will always remember him with great admiration.
With sincere sympathy,
Dear _____,
We are very sorry to learn that you have experienced a death in your family. Although we do not know the details, we want you to know that we are thinking about you in your bereavement.
Please accept our condolences.
Sincerely,
Suitable Quotations:
"The most important thing in life is to learn how to give out love, and to let it come in."
- Morrie Schwartz
"Peace, peace! He is not dead, he doth not sleep -- he hath awakened from the dream of life." -Percy Pysshe Shelley
"On the death of a friend, we should consider that the fates through confidence have devolved on us the task of a double living, that we have henceforth to fulfill the promise of our friend's life also, in our own, to the world." - Henry David Thoreau
"Death, thou art infinite; it is life is little." - Philip James Bailey
"Death to a good man is but passing through a dark entry, out of one little dusky room of his Father's house into another that is fair and large, lightsome and glorious, and divinely entertaining." - Adam Clarke
"One short sleep past, we wake eternally, And Death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die."
- John Donne
A good condolence letter or note is one that speaks from the heart. Use these guidelines as a starting point for writing your condolence note or letter. What's important is that you write what feels right as opposed to a script or a platitude.
Most grief experts agree that a good condolence or sympathy note contains at least some of the following elements:
l. Acknowledge the loss.
I was sorry to hear of your recent bereavement.
I was very upset to hear of your loss.
I wanted to write and tell you how sorry I am for your loss.
I was so sorry to hear about the tragic circumstances surrounding X's death.
I was terribly sorry to learn about the death of X.
I was saddened to hear of X's death.
It was with a great sense of loss that I learned of X's death.
I was so sad to hear of X's sudden death.
I am writing on behalf of our firm to express our sympathy at your sad loss.
2. Express your sympathy.
Please accept my sympathy for your sad loss.
I want to express my heartfelt sympathy.
X was such a special person that no words are adequate.
X was such a special person and it must be so difficult to come to terms with
the fact he/she died so suddenly.
May it comfort you to know that so many people care and are thinking of you and your family at this time.
May the love of family and friends comfort you.
There are no words to express our heartfelt sympathy to you and your family.
While there is nothing I can say that will ease your loss, I wanted you to know
that I am grieving and thinking of you all.
3. Note special qualities of the deceased or the bereaved.
What started many years ago as a business relationship grew into a friendship. It was a privilege to have known him/her.
She was a wonderful person and I won't forget her thoughtfulness and warmth.
I wish to express my sadness at John?s untimely death. I know your courage and family will help you through this difficult time, but if there is anything I can do to help, please call.
4. End the letter with a thoughtful word, an inspirational quote, a hope, a wish or expression of sympathy.
"You are in my thoughts and prayers."
Remember that "Those who live in the hearts of others never die."
Sample Client Sympathy Notes:
Dear ____,
It is with great sadness that I learned of John?s death.
It was a privilege to have known him, and I appreciated our relationship very much, as a friend as well as a valued client.
I'd like to offer my sincere sympathy to you and your family. If there is anything I can do to help, please let me know.
Dear _____,
Please accept my sincere sympathy on the passing of X. Although he suffered for a long time, it is still a terrible loss for you, though in some respects a blessing.
I will hold you and your family in my thoughts and prayers as you move through the process of grieving and healing.
Dear _____;
Just a quiet word to extend our deepest sympathy to your and your family, and to let you know we are thinking of you.
Sincerely,
Dear _____,
We were shocked to learn of your loss. John's passing will be grieved by all of us here at the firm. I considered him a personal friend and I will always remember him with great admiration.
With sincere sympathy,
Dear _____,
We are very sorry to learn that you have experienced a death in your family. Although we do not know the details, we want you to know that we are thinking about you in your bereavement.
Please accept our condolences.
Sincerely,
Suitable Quotations:
"The most important thing in life is to learn how to give out love, and to let it come in."
- Morrie Schwartz
"Peace, peace! He is not dead, he doth not sleep -- he hath awakened from the dream of life." -Percy Pysshe Shelley
"On the death of a friend, we should consider that the fates through confidence have devolved on us the task of a double living, that we have henceforth to fulfill the promise of our friend's life also, in our own, to the world." - Henry David Thoreau
"Death, thou art infinite; it is life is little." - Philip James Bailey
"Death to a good man is but passing through a dark entry, out of one little dusky room of his Father's house into another that is fair and large, lightsome and glorious, and divinely entertaining." - Adam Clarke
"One short sleep past, we wake eternally, And Death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die."
- John Donne
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