Call It Old-Fashioned But…

There was a time when sending handwritten thank you notes to customers was de rigueur. Today many business people consider it a thing of the past, and view sending an email as sufficient (and more efficient).

But consider these arguments for sending handwritten thank you notes:

• Your snail mail note will probably get noticed faster than an email.




• The recipient will appreciate that you took the time to write the note since so few people do these days.




• If your note is creative or memorable in some way (and your handwriting is legible) it may get circulated to others.

Along with thanking a new customer, opportunities for sending a handwritten note include:

• When you didn’t get the sale. Sure it’s disappointing not to get the business after you invested time and effort, but it shows your professionalism. And who knows, you might get another opportunity to bid down the road.




• When the order is complete. Most thank yous are sent after the order is placed. Hold off until the project is finished and cement the memory that you delivered on your promises.




• When you get a referral. If you’ve got a small gift to send as a token of your appreciation, send a note with it. If you don’t have a gift, at least send a note!

Sending handwritten thank you notes can be time-consuming, but it’s one way to go the extra step to show customers you care.

Funny Thank You Story - Rick Kiley, President of gThankYou, LLC tells the story of how he asked motivational speaker and author Harvey MacKay to sign a copy of his first bestseller, Swim with the Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive. Later Kiley sent MacKay a thank you note. Harvey then sent back a thank you note to Kiley, thanking him for his thank you note!