In an era of Tweets, emails, Facebook updates and the like, the hand-written note expressing our thoughts and sentiments has all but disappeared. We are far more likely to use our Smart Phones than we are an envelope and a stamp when passing on a word or two to our loved ones and outer circles. Besides, who knows anyone’s snail mail address anymore, anyway? And stamps and envelopes are such…a nuisance.
Which is precisely why I am urging everyone to take a few minutes this holiday season to write a simple note in your own hand to someone you care about. Friend, neighbor, mother, sibling, spouse, business partner, customer. It does not matter. I guarantee you will make that person’s day. Promise.
The value of a hand-written note cannot be underestimated and indeed, is close to entering the priceless range. As receiving one is just about as rare as sending one anymore. I apologize if I sound like a broken record, but…
This needs to be said. Take the time to compose a hand-written note and you will increase your value quotient ten-fold, if not more.
Indeed, it is a rare day when we discover among the bills and junk mail a card, a letter, or post card written to us by someone who took the time to sit down with pen and paper to actually write an expression of love, friendship, gratitude, or simply a thinking of you. Such a contrast to what is normally dashed out in 140 characters or less.
An actual thought. In someone’s personal hand writing.
It does not even have to be in a card or letter. It could be a short thought written inside the cover of a book, given to a special person for the holidays or other occasion.
I was fortunate enough to receive the latter at an upteam’s holiday party last weekend. While the book in which the message was written looks very good, frankly the message he took the time to write to me is far more meaningful and what I will remember long after I have read the book and placed it on the shelf. What took him less than a few minutes to scribe will carry with me throughout this next year, and beyond.
Given the nature of this business we have chosen to be in, I am surprised that more attention is not paid to teaching our organizations the timeless advice of sending out occasional notes to customers and associates. They do not have to be long, drawn-out dissertations, but rather simple expressions of gratitude for service or business rendered.
Statistics show that customer retention is significantly higher when those customers are consistently reminded of how much they mean to a business or organization. A hand-written note sent a few times a year can mean more referrals, more business, not to mention genuinely happier clients.
So again, I urge you to set aside a few minutes during this busy time and hand-write a few notes to people you truly appreciate. Put them in envelopes, get some stamps, and make their day greater than they could have imagined!
