Sending Thank You Notes
A thank you note makes you stand out and cements your image in the brain of the person that you had some dealing with. It not only reminds them of meeting you it shows them that you paid attention.
I suck at remembering names, seriously a person can say their name 27 times and It won’t stick in my brain. If you remember names just say their name a few times in the meeting and they will note that you were paying attention. Since this is pretty impossible for me, I always collect business cards.
I DO however remember small details of conversations. These are the things that stick out for me and peak my interest, the things that make them a real person so even if I don’t know your name, I remember that you are from Delaware or your favorite movie is Fletch.
Small detail + Business Card = Genuinely Thoughtful Thank You
• Send an email thank you after EVERY meeting.
No one has to take the time out to meet with you and even if the meeting went horribly it was nice of them to take some time from their life to hear what you had to say.
• Handwritten Thank you’s are the big guns. They give an opportunity to not only share your thoughtfulness but also to share a bit about your personality.
Timeliness is key, don’t let them build up, send out you thanks right away.
I enjoy picking out a variety of thank you notes and as a result have an embarrassing amount of boxes of thank you notes from Paper Source, but I don’t always use them. You don’t have to pay $20 a box to make an impression. Some things that I have used as impactful thank you notes include...
• Postcards from my travels
• Postcards from where I live
• Photos printed on my home color printer (especially awesome for kids thank you notes)
• Old photos I have scanned
• Test prints from the darkroom a million years ago
• Index cards with something special written on them, or Doodles, or magazine cut outs, or collages, or stamps or things you find on the street, whatever strikes your fancy. If you write "thank you" on it it is a thank you note.
I make a bunch when I am feeling crafty and have a variety of store bought and hand crafted or weird ones on hand so that finding a card is never an excuse to delay sending a note. Oh also stamps. You need to keep stamps on hand too. the forever ones are good cause they don’t expire.
- Handwritten notes should be sent EVERY time you interview. Seriously if you want a job send a thank you note. Even if you don’t want the job, send a thank you note. You never know who the interviewer knows or what other positions they could recommend you for. Connections. It takes like half a second to be nice to someone and to stick out in their head as a thoughtful person. Be a thoughtful person.
- If someone does something nice for you, even if it’s their job, thank them properly. On the Australian tour we took along poster thank you notes and all the girls signed them and we gave them to valets, and hotel bell hops, and the venue lighting and sound people and security.
- It takes a lot of people to make a successful tour/project/business/life/ let everyone know that you appreciate their help in making yours a reality.
Thanks for listening!
xoxo
-missy
