The Power of the Thank You Note

Since it’s Thanksgiving, I thought I’d tell you about the simple power of the old-fashioned, handwritten thank you note. When I first started in selling, on the road, every night I jotted out a handwritten thank you note to everybody I’d met with that day; if they placed orders, thanking them for that; if they didn’t, thanking them for their time. Once I got a call from the buyer of a small chain of toy stores I’d pitched on my product line with zero success – he had flatly refused to add my racks of products to his stores.

When he got me on the phone he said that, in 30 years as a purchasing agent, no one he’d ever said no to had ever sent him a thank you note, and he thought he’d been hasty in his rejection, and now felt confident I’d really provide the service I’d promised – and I wrote a $16,000.00 order over the phone.

I never forgot the lesson.

I do find myself too often too busy, too rushed to stick with this simple strategy everyday. In fact, writing this reminded me of two I owed from a week ago, so I stopped writing this long enough to whip them out. The other day, I met with a client at an upscale restaurant, both of us there for the first time. Food and service were fine, but no one captured our names and addresses, so we won’t be getting thank you notes. Do you think if we did at least one of us might be more prone to return to that restaurant? Or mention it to somebody? It’s smart business to make your thanksgiving season 12 months long.

— Dan Kennedy

Dan Kennedy is an author, consultant and business coach. Additional information at www.FreeDanKennedyNewsletter.com