I checked my mail today, and found a thick envelope with a candy cane attached.  I’m still excited by the surprise of actual mail (sometimes even junk mail), and rushed to open it, when I noticed it oddly was addressed to my apartment number - not me.  Only slightly disappointed, I pulled out a letter with illustrated Santas, reindeer, and Christmas trees.   After looking at the header, I recognized the letter was from my landlord.

The letter was titled “Season’s Greetings and Best Wishes for the New Year!!!”.  I was just getting that warm “oh that’s so nice of them feeling” insdie, when I realized the rest of the letter was devoted to informing me that rent payments are always due on the first of the month (Sadly, that requirement is not any different than it was in 2007), and that enclosed in the envelope are twelve, self-addressed, rent envelopes for my use in 2008.

I then saw a greeting card decorated with sleepy polar bears and snowflakes in the envelope, and figured that’s where the real holiday wishes were (and my warm feeling coming back).  Wrong, again.  When opened it up, there was nothing written in there! You got it - a blank, empty greeting card. Assuming I must have missed the message somewhere, I looked at the back only to find a calendar for 2008 (presumably to *remind* me when the first of each month is).

The Lesson

This is a great example of how good intentions are not always enough in business - you need to make an effort to communicate with your customer on a personal level.  Additionally, don’t pretend you care about the customer - actually do it. For any landlords out there reading this - take extra minute and hand-write a note, it goes a long way.