The Lost Method to Say “Thank You”

How often do you send a personal handwritten thank you note to someone?

I was taught at very early on the value and power of sending a personal Thank You note. I first learned about it while I listened to a sales training audio cassette program in my car back around 1990, I think.

In the seminar, I recall the trainer telling this story:

“When I was a young child, my parents occasionally went out with friends for dinner. Invariably, when my parents returned from an evening out, I saw my mother sit down at her little desk in the hallway as soon as she got home and begin to write.

One night I asked her what she was doing. Her answer came straight out of Emily Post: “We had such a wonderful time with our dear friends this evening that I want to jot them a note to thank them for their friendship and the wonderful dinner.”

My mother’s simple act of gratitude, expressed to people who already knew that she and my father appreciated and enjoyed their friendship, helped to keep my parents’ friendships strong for their entire lifetimes.”

Because I was taught that building relationships is what selling is all about, I began immediately to send thank you notes to people. In fact, initially I set a goal to send ten thank you notes every day. That goal meant that I had to go out to meet and get the contact information for at least ten people every day.

I sent thank you notes to everyone I came across in my day: People I met with briefly, people I was able to show my products to, people I talked with on the telephone, and people I actually helped become a customer of the product I was selling.

I became a thank you note machine.

And guess what happened?

This little tool of “Thanks” soon became the pathway to more referrals. The people I had expressed gratitude to were happy to send me new clients as a reward for making them feel appreciated and important.

The lesson here: Make time to say “thank you” to everyone you come in contact with. In my experience, the handwritten thank you note is best. But, anything you can do to say “thank you” will work.

By the way… Thank You for reading my articles. I hope they’re valuable to you in some way, shape, or form. If they are, feel free to pass them along to someone else you know who might gain value from them as well.

​That is all. Have a GREAT day (just for today :).