The Lost Art Of The Hand Written Thank You Note

I'm really not sure why any of us get excited about going to get our mail every day. Even though we know that ultimately Mr. Postman will deliver us three pieces of mail that are bills, catalogues we didn't order, and one incredibly bulky Val-Pak stuffed with coupons, we still never get tired of the intrigue of opening up our mail. Even the halfhearted effort of companies that send us birthday cards unsigned still doesn't seem to be able to break our spirit around the excitement of getting the mail. Every once in a while when the sun shines bright and the weather is oh so perfect, it comes to our amazement that somebody today actually sends us a hand written note and there it is . . . our day is made.

For more than twenty years now, I have never stopped sending hand written thank you notes. Notes that have a personalized message so somebody on the other end actually knew that you took the time to really say thanks. Not some text that says 'congrats!' or 'awesome!' or 'way to go', but a truly heartfelt note that expresses the gratitude of saying thanks for something you really appreciated from the person on the other end. It this 24 hours 7 days a week where we are all hard wired, being able to unplug for a minute or two to ready a hand written thank you will mean more than you ever know in a countless number a ways.

So, do you really want to get ahead in your career? Do you want to bring in more customers and have them refer you more new customers? Do you want to move from the 2nd interview to the 3rd interview the next time you are looking for a job? Do you want to become a more credible and likable figure in your community. One simple but not easy to execute strategy is to simply start writing hand written thank you notes every single day because your competition is either too lazy or unwilling to carry out this five or ten minute task on a consistent basis.

How do I know this? It's easy to explain. Since I opened my new business six years ago, I write somewhere in the vicinity of 25 to 30 hand written cards every single week. Routinely, I get responses from younger and older people alike actually thanking me for sending the card. That's weird, isn't it? Thanking me for sending the thank you card? It's not weird at all. Thank you notes are such a lost art in the digital world we are in today, that human beings crave to be touched with some non-electronic sentiment so they know that there are other human beings who care out there in this world.

Well . . . I do care. And I'm sharing this with you because if you start implementing this even just a few times a week, you'll change the results you've been getting and you'll make other people’s lives better. . . . Thank You:)

Alex Durieux

Sales Manager at Future PolyTech & Pregio Cheese

9y

Couldn't agree more with this article! A little personal touch goes a long way.

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Riddhi Pandya

Corporate Counsellor and People Professional

9y

Good one! felt nice to FIND someone thinking alike.

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Gary Parsons

Senior Web Developer/Designer at DesignDesign Inc,

9y

This is a great article. I hope younger generations don't lose these skills and understanding. Thanks for sharing.

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Ethan Spencer

VP FINANCE | CFO | CHIEF STRATEGY OFFICER | TREASURY & INVESTOR RELATIONS

9y

I love cards of all kinds: birthday, thank you, holiday, anniversary, etc. They create happiness, laughter and love.

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When I worked at Tiffany & Company the Hand Written Thank you note was something we did on a regular basis. It is a personal touch that I took with me and still use to this day. Thank you for writing this article.

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