Don’t forget to say thank you. Your most important relationships require you to remember this simple gesture, and a thank you card can do the trick.
Time, money and deliberate effort are a few of the key ingredients that establish quality business relationships. There’s a reason successful businesses invest so much in expanding their social networks and cultivating business with existing and potential clients. Without the foundation of quality relationships, no business will last very long.
With this in mind, I want to tell you why saying thank you with a printed or handwritten card is imperative to building the relationships you value.
1. Your business associates don’t require a thank you
We’re in an efficient, quick-moving business world. Nobody expects a personalized thank you card, and nobody will be heartbroken if they don’t receive a token of your gratitude. You stand out when they see you invested time and energy in thanking them.
2. Customers will pay more for a better experience
A client paying for a product or service is partially paying for a quality experience, and they’re happy to pay for it. There is actual value to be gained from taking good care of your customers or business relationships. Delivering a meaningful, personalized thank you should be part of your business’s culture, because it pays off.
3. A thank you serves as a natural follow-up
You’ve just completed a project for a client, and you hope to continue working together. Hopefully you have worked to give them a quality experience. Sending a thank you card keeps the door open between you and the client. Mention something specific you appreciated about working them, and let them know you look forward to helping them however you can in the future.
4. Tangible thank yous make you a tangible business partner
The nature of digital communications is such that we don’t quite experience direct contact with each other. Imagine how different this blog post would feel if I had printed it on nice paper, signed it at the bottom and hand delivered it to your desk. A nicely printed, hand-written thank you would have a stronger impact than a short email. Don’t underestimate the power of a tangible message.
If you treat your business relationships with real value, they will develop how you want them to. We make an effort at Alexander’s to send personalized thank you cards to clients, and this has helped us stay close with our customers. We actually print custom, company-branded cards with individual employee names on them. If your company has a culture of gratitude, custom cards would fit right in. We’re fortunate to work with the people we work with. Don’t forget to let your clients know you value them. It might be time for you to send a thank you card to your clients.
