Our Thoughts
Writing thank you notes
Mar 3, 2014
When I was growing up, after each birthday or special occasion my Grandmother and Mother would say to me “you need to write thank you notes for the gifts you received”. Of course, as a child, I never understood the importance of this gesture. As an adult, I see this small task in a much different light.
Hand-written thank you notes are a lost art. In our digital age of computers, emails, text messages and social media, we have forgotten our penmanship skills we learned in grade school. We learn to write our ABCs and cursive writing, but then in the next step we are introduced to a computer keyboard (and this is usually before we enter the doors of Kindergarten). The remaining years of our education, we produce all forms of communication from the strokes of our fingers across lettered keys. This quick method of entering words and phrases, complete with the catch-all spell check, grammar check and “print” selection creates our well-crafted documents quickly and easily.
If you are in business, I recommend you sharpen your penmanship skills and hand-write thank you notes. If a business owner or manager takes time out of their busy day to meet with you, send them a short note to thank them for their time. Include your business card in the note so they will have a quick reference. If someone chooses to buy a product from you, send them a note to thank them for selecting you over your competition. If you meet someone new at an event, send them a note saying “it was nice to meet you” and again, include your business card. You will be surprised how a small notecard will stand out in the stack of cluttered junk mail people receive each day.
I keep a small stack of notecards, prepped with envelopes and my business card, next to my phone on my desk. Each Friday I review my week and write thank you notes for meetings, signed agreements, ribbon cutting and grand opening congratulations, and for new acquaintances I have met along the way. Get into the habit of hand-writing notes and you will be remembered by your friends and colleagues.
