One the best things you can do during the holidays may be to leave people alone. How many of you have peeked into your work email box today and seen all the junk that accumulated there over the past couple of days? Are you intrigued? Will you be following up with those people or companies? That is what I thought.

What you can do, however, is to wish people well and simply say Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays. I have noticed that some of the mass retailers, especially the more upscale ones, are simple sending greetings and not making a sales pitch. It is clear it is a one-way communication. I have also noticed that some people, in particular on twitter, have responded back to the holiday tweets of retailers when it is not clear. I have also noticed that those individual customers, whoever they may be, are not getting a response, probably because the holiday greetings were scheduled ahead of time and there really is no one home to respond.

You may recall that a watchword of my philosophy is to have a conversation. Auto-scheduling a holiday note, and then not manning your social media dialogue when a customer responds back, is pretty lame. I liken it to someone popping their head in the door, shouting Merry Christmas! and then darting out again without waiting to get a response. You would think the person is rude, drunk or a lunatic.

So, think about your conversation and engagement. If you cannot have a conversation, then admit you are sending a unilateral greeting in order to manage your customers’ expectations. You never know if one of your customers is watching to see how you respond.

Now go and enjoy your holiday!