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I’m always impressed by handwritten thank you notes. They are a thoughtful, simple and direct way of acknowledging what you gave or did. This past summer I received two of these rarities… on the same day.
The first was from Elise Mitchell, president of Mitchell Communications and a colleague from Counselors Academy, an organization of PR agency owners. Elise served as the chair of our annual Spring Conference and she wrote to thank me for my contribution in helping organize it. Elise’s note showed up in a tube mailer accompanied by agency swag. A distinctive and memorable package.
The other was from a plumber named Mike who replaced a leaky section of pipe in my basement. Mike was quick, efficient, friendly and personable. As he was finishing his invoice, Mike made a comment about the weather (hot) and the impact on his physiology now that he was a father of both a growing toddler and midsection. He mentioned how he began running and that his knees were bothering him. Disclosing that I was training for my second marathon, we had a ten minute discussion about running shoes and where to buy them. I used his company’s service, but in Mike’s note, he thanked ME for the advice I dispensed.
To be honest, I’m not sure if Mike writes these notes on his own, or if his employer encourages the practice. Either way, Mike or Precision Plumbing are thinking about how to wrap up a banal transaction with a tangible coda.
So thank you Elise and Mike for setting an example of how to think and stay connected. I’ll try to bring pen to paper more often, even if my penmanship is lousy.
Tags: thinking
You bring up an excellent point, not only about the value of a thank-you, but the value of honest-to-goodness handwriting. In our digital age, I’m more accustomed to typing–heck, I’m doing it right now. I can’t tell you the last time I actually wrote something by hand; I don’t even write checks anymore with the advent of debit cards. Now more than ever there’s a personal connection that occurs with a handwritten note. It shows that not only are you thinking of the person, but you’re bypassing the normal quick route of communication and doing something by hand to show them you care. There’s enormous value in that; we should all be doing it more often.
I was designed for the keyboard age, Art. With such cruddy handwriting, I’d make it a habit of sending out many more scribed thank-you notes. Maybe there is a remedial handwriting course for the over 50 set.
Bob: Thanks for the kind words. The hand-written note was the least I could do for the contributions you made to our conference. To your blog post point, I really enjoyed sitting down and writing a personal note to everyone on our conference committee. The actual writing of the note made me remember what each person brought to the table and the unique and valued contributions they made to the group’s effort. I am not sure I would have expressed my appreciation as richly in an email or typed letter.
And it showed, Elise. Thanks.