Posted on October 01, 2010 by CJ Article Team

Many years ago, sending hand-written thank-you notes was considered not only proper, but “de rigueur.”  In this somewhat crazy, stressed-out, impersonal world, people are so ‘busy’ that they send computer-generated thank-you notes for wedding gifts, which may have cost $20 – several hundred dollars.  When did that become acceptable?

Here’s the good news for today’s professional:  If you send thank-you notes, you will stand out from others because doing so is now such a rarity.  Note:  I always try to look at the upside of things.

So, here are some considerations for thank-you notes:

 

1. Use them.  Sending thank you notes is a classy way to ‘be.’  You certainly can have thank-you notes that go along with your stationery.  You can also have special ones created that have your logo on them, but you don’t need to have that.  What is required, however, is sending thank-you notes to clients, people who have done something special for you, those with whom you work, or someone you see written about in a local newspaper.
2. Don’t worry about your words.  Worry more about getting your thank-you notes written and mailed.  Your thank-you notes don’t have to be long.  They don’t have to be beautifully worded.  You don’t need to have an expensive Hallmark card.  But, what thank-you notes do need – is to be written and sent.  When people do things for us, we need to acknowledge it.
3. Sending a belated thank-you note is better than not sending one at all.  Many times, I get so behind on my thank-you notes that I think, “This is ridiculous, I can’t send a thank-you note this late.”  I finally had to get past that and just write notes to people.  If I cut an article out of the newspaper or a magazine a year or year-and-a-half ago, it’s pitiful that I haven’t send some kind of a note to that person – so although the first temptation is to toss the article, I now realize that it’s MUCH better to go ahead and send it anyway.  A number of times, the recipients of the note said, “This was such a nice reminder,” or “I appreciate that,” or “You’re the only person who acknowledged it.”  Apologize for it being late, if you need to, but I would encourage you to send thank you notes – promptly or embarrassingly late.

 

The bad news is that thank-you notes are few and far between here at the end of the first decade of the new century.  The good news is that you can make someone’s day by sending such a note.  Try to send at least one a week and see what happens.