Today’s world is so fast paced and forward moving that it’s often easy to forget to stop and actually say “Thank You” in a meaningful way. In fact, remembering this small, but important, gesture may now actually make you unique in this world!

Just last week I was invited to have lunch with a colleague to discuss membership in a professional organization. I left that lunch feeling great and really excited about this new opportunity presented to Barcelona Creative Group to not only join this organization, but to also have a chance to help a great professional organization take some steps to improve their marketing, and hopefully continue to increase their membership.

Very late the next day, it dawned on me that I had forgotten to write my thank you note. It was the end of the workday, and also the end of the workweek, so I opted to write a thank you email instead of taking a few minutes to write a note and mail it. Even though I was still able to say thank you in that email, I felt bad the rest of the evening because I knew I would have preferred to take the time to hand write it.

My siblings and I were always taught to write thank you notes when we were growing up. Whether it was for a gift, a special phone call or being taken out to dinner (by someone other than our parents!), we knew that thank you note or card needed to be written and mailed.

It’s a simple task, saying “Thank You” to someone, but it is too often forgotten. Some people may view it as a woeful obligation, others may not know what to say or lack the ability to identify the moments when one should be written. But remember this – a thank you note is a small, inexpensive tribute to a person you respect, to whom you are grateful, or simply, whose company you enjoy – it is not a burden! Even if it’s not something you learned from your parents, it’s never too late to learn on your own.

I love this quote from the book A Gentleman Pens A Note by John Bridges and Bryan Curtis, “A gentleman knows that note-writing is almost a lost art. Even by sending the simplest thank you, he knows that he has separated himself from the non note-writing throng.”

It’s so simple, but so true. Anyone who has ever won business from a new client, been chosen over someone else for a job, or even received a phone call or note in response to their thank you note can tell you how powerful a personal note can be. I know this first hand – I was chosen for an internship in college because unlike the “runner-ups”, I hand wrote my thank you letter, instead of emailing. Sadly, that was before all of these social networks even existed, when sending thank you letters by email was beginning to become popular.

With all the technology and time-saving methods available these days, don’t forget that it can still pay off to take some extra time to do something that may not only make someone else feel good, but also make you unique and unforgettable.

1. 

   Mari

   July 21, 2009 at 3:49 PM

   We have it in our brand persona to write a handwritten thank you note to every single one of our customers… at least for now while our business is small enough that we can do so.

   We’re far behind with our thank you notes, so thank you (!) for the reminder, Juli!
2. 

   Abby

   July 21, 2009 at 3:50 PM

   Juli,
   Thanks for pointing out such an important, yet overlooked area in our lives. Thank you notes were a must growing up in my house too…and it’s funny because I find that my closest friends are the same way! Unfortunately showing appreciation and being considerate are not the “norm” in all of our lives.
   I work at a staffing agency in St. Louis and we get the nicest thank you notes (handwritten and via email) to our staff from applicants. And they all say the same thing- they thank us for giving them our time and resources with their job search. And of course I post to our blog!
   We all like to be acknowledged- it is my hope that if people like us continue to send thank you’s that the trend will eventually catch on
3. 

   Juli Barcelona

   July 21, 2009 at 4:58 PM

   Mari & Abby,

   Thank you both for your comments.

   Abby, I’m glad to hear that your experience with follow up from your applicants is positive. Great idea to post the thank you’s to your blog as well.

   And Mari, I received my hand written thank you note from you when I ordered my cupcakes for our office meeting and I thought that was a great thing. Also, Elaine from the Library has told me how much she appreciated hearing from you by phone when she ordered her son’s cupcakes. So keep it up, you’re doing a great job!

   Juli
4. 

   Gregg

   July 21, 2009 at 7:12 PM

   Well said Juli. Is there a cutoff to what merits a thank you note hand written? We go to a lot of meetings that are pretty informal without estimates or contracts etc. (say to a certain company in Palos Heights for example), and usually we would probably send an email, or now a tweet, to thank you. I find that people that come to me do the same thing, not much hand written.

   On a related topic, I get emails often from people looking for jobs (most not realizing how small our biz is). A lot of times they are very generic and are clearly complete cut and paste jobs from the 100 other people they emailed. Recently I got a typed letter in the mail from a person looking for work who had clearly taken the time to at least read my website and know whatever he could based on our public persona. I had nothing for him at the time, but he definitely stands out should I need services he offered.
5. 

   kapgar

   July 22, 2009 at 8:53 AM

   So long as it’s a genuine and unique Thank You note, that’s cool. But some sort of automated response system annoys me more than not receiving any sort of notification at all.