How Simple Thank You Notes Can Boost Your Business

The following is an article I found, by Tom Hopkins, (www.tomhopkins.com) regarding how writing a simple thank you note can positively affect your business. Thank you notes are about relationships; all kinds of relationships. People love to feel appreciated and important and a thank you note is simply a warm way of expressing gratitude and showing that you remember someone; and people love to be remembered!

Developing the Thank You Note Habit

I learned the value and power of thank you notes early in life. When I was a young child; my parents occasionally went out with friends for dinner. Invariably, when my parents returned from an evening out, I saw my mother sit down at her little desk in the hallway as soon as she got home and begin to write. One night I asked her what she was doing. Her answer came straight out of Emily Post: "We had such a wonderful time with our dear friends this evening that I want to jot them a note to thank them for their friendship and the wonderful dinner." My mother's simple act of gratitude, expressed to people who already knew that she and my father appreciated and enjoyed their friendship, helped to keep my parents' friendships strong for their entire lifetimes.

Because I understood that building relationships is what selling is all about, I began early in my career to send thank you notes to people. I set a goal to send ten thank you notes every day. That goal meant that I had to meet and get names of at least ten people everyday. I sent thank you notes to people I met briefly, people I showed properties to, people I talked with on the telephone, and people I actually helped to own new homes. I became a thank you note fool. And guess what happened? By the end of my third year in sales, my business was 98% referrals! The people I had expressed gratitude to were happy to send me new clients as a reward for making them feel appreciated and important.