Holiday greetings can build a relationship or hurt it. These tips to follow and gaffes to avoid will help you.
The holiday season is underway, and along with the eggnog, we face countless possibilities for miscommunication. As business communicators, we want our clients and colleagues to feel warmly greeted–yet we do not want to offend or overstep. Here are a few ideas for navigating holiday salutations.
- When sending holiday greetings, be specific.
“Wishing you a great 2023” is fine if you do not know the person well. If you lack information about your reader’s life or business, you might have to use this anodyne phrase.
However, if you want your message to stand out, do your homework and discover something that matters to the other person. Find out about a product launch, a round of funding or, on a personal note, an upcoming marriage or another milestone, and congratulate your reader. Imagine how you would feel if someone cared enough to find out what mattered to you and mentioned it.
So instead of “Hope you have a great new year,” you would write, “Hope the launch of your new software is all you hope for in 2023.”
- Value cultural differences.
In the age of political correctness, it’s become de rigeur to write “Happy Holidays” to avoid alienating adherents to any faith. In general, I agree with this practice. However, if you know that your reader is Christian, don’t be afraid to wish them a Merry Christmas. If you know they’re Jewish and are likely to celebrate the holiday, wish them a Happy Chanukah. Kwanzaa is still inconsistently observed, so I’d avoid wishing someone a good Kwanzaa unless you have a close personal relationship. When in doubt, a Happy New Year card is a neutral option.
Just as it is important to be inclusive in our holiday greetings, we should value the differences that make life interesting. And let’s face it, “Happy Holidays” is about as plain-vanilla as you can get. You’re better off wishing someone a meaningful winter solstice!
- Beware excessive jollity.
While some people love to ho-ho-ho their way through December in Christmas hats and sweaters, others are decidedly curmudgeon like. Just as holiday music in stores begins to make many people’s skin crawl by mid-December, treacly holiday greetings may do you more harm than good.
Use sparingly such words as “very” as in “We wish you a very Merry Christmas,” and “thrilled” as in “We are thrilled to invite you to our holiday party.” Remember, if you are writing to someone you know through your business, you may want to retain your professional persona.
Gaffes to Avoid
- Be sure to spell names correctly and get titles right. You might pen a lovely, heartfelt message and then mess it up by not spelling the person’s name correctly or disregarding their recent promotion to vice president.
- Avoid a sales pitch. A simple greeting to show your client how much they mean to your business is good. But don’t try to sell something in the holiday card for business clients. If you are too sales-y, you may turn your customers off.
- Punctuate your greetings properly. Writing “Seasons Greetings” is incorrect. After all, you are greeting them for only one season: winter. Use “Season’s Greetings” since the greetings belong to the season.
Similarly, you would write “Happy New Year” if you are referring to the whole year. Write “Happy New Year’s” to denote December 31 or January 1. In these cases, you shorten the phrase “New Year’s Eve” or “New Year’s Day.” Do not write “Happy New Years” unless you are referring to an upcoming series of years (which I presume you are not).
The winter holidays bring great joy to many people–along with potential risks to a businessperson’s credibility. At this time, clients and colleagues expect some mention of the end of the year and all the festivities associated with it. When you communicate your good wishes authentically, with consideration for the life and culture of your readers, you will make others feel respected and valued. And that’s what keeps your relationships strong for another year.