Good Morning,
Last week I attended The Northeast Chamber’s after-hours networking event at Chef Pointe Café in Watauga. I was talking to a new business owner trying to find out more about his customer base using questions I learned from business coach and great friend Mike Stammer. I was having fun, which was my goal.
As I asked my questions and got unsatisfactory answers, which is common for new businesses, I switched tactics; I started giving him suggestions with examples of how to grow his business.
One of the suggestions was to write a thank-you note after meeting someone. I told him not to send an email if possible, but to hand write and mail it to the person. These days we get so many emails that we delete most of them unread. But we get very little mail in comparison. When we do get mail, we look at it and if it’s hand written we will open it and read what’s inside.
J. Hamilton Jones wrote the book “Business Letters That Get Results!” that has a chapter on writing thank-you notes that get people to thank you for the note (yes, it happened to me)!
The approach he outlines is
- Praise the deed first.
- Tell the consequences or why.
- Express appreciation last.
Jones also suggests that you omit “thank you” and look to the future in the closing paragraphs or sentence. Also you want to be “dearless.” Start with their name only or a short message and name and sign only your first name.
I have used Jones’ approach since I met him and bought his book in the early 1990’s. The book is still available on Amazon, and it works as well as all the other types of letter he discusses. It’s a great book to have in your library!
If you would like to know more about how to write highly effective letters, just contact me; I’ll be happy to sit down with you and show you how to do it.
Till next time.
