Want to make an impression? Go offline
Let me tell you a little story.
Among the things I do is a blog called MyMicroISV.com for people starting or running their own micro software companies. A few week’s ago, I did what I call - Site Review Monday - where I review a fellow micro-ISV’s web site from a marketing and effectiveness point of view of Scott Carpenter’s InvoicePlace online invoicing service.
Now I beat up Scott a fair amount in this review - he’s got a great product, but his web site needs some major nip and tuck. I chatted with him later that day via Skype, and that was pretty much it. Things move on in the blogosphere, and digital relationships with people come and go every day.
Then I get a postcard. From Scott. From Australia (I’m in California), thanking me for the review and my time. Wow.
In two plus years of writing blogs and books, replying to people who wanted to ask about this or that, in all those hundreds of fleeting contacts, no one has ever sent taken the time to sit down, handwrite a real card and mail it to me. Let alone from another country.
Sure, you might be thinking I’ve been living a sheltered digital life for too long, but when is the last time someone took the time and trouble to thank you in writing? I thought so.
I guess there’s three points to this post:
- Nothing beats a sincere and physical thank you for making a positive impression.
- Email/online thank you messages just don’t have the impact, the weight, of an actual card or letter.
- In an age of hundreds of fleeting digital messages and relationships, of faster, faster, faster!, go offline if you really want to make an favorable impression on someone you only know digitally.
I know Scott’s postcard favorably impressed me!
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Comments
Kathleen Fasanella says on March 5th, 2007 at 12:55 pm
How coincidental this appears now. After soliciting quite a bit of money for a marathon I ran for charity from blog visitors, I felt obligated to do more than the obligatory email thank you and sent out real world thank you cards to people who donated (many donations were quite generous, $100-$500!). From there I expanded and sent cards to people who sent me donations or books from my wish list (I’d planned on doing that but never had gotten around to it before). I send them all over the world, Germany, UK, Slovenia, Japan, Belarus, the Netherlands, wherever. I’ve been very surprised at the response, people LOVE to get these. Within the population that has received a card, I’m getting even more donations and gifts!
The problem I’ve developed since then is finding nice thank you cards (don’t like the corporate plain ones). I’ve gone everywhere looking for them. I think I have a line on an independent card maker who can supply me since I use about 20-30 cards a month. What I would really love are those cards you can plant; they have flower seeds melded into the paper. Those are running about $5 each at retail, too pricey just now but I’m looking for discounts.
Kevin Rapley says on March 5th, 2007 at 2:54 pm
Thanks for the article Bob, it really is astounding how much of an impact this can make. I recently went through the recruitment process at the end of 2006 and learnt a very valuable technique from reading a Robin Ryan book - Winning Cover Letters; she firmly commends sending a hand written thank you note to the interviewer after the interview and I can honsetly say it really pays dividends and was a large factor in landing my current role. I am a web developer and most of everything I do is done digitally and online. A few minutes carefully constructing a hand written letter goes a long, long way.
Scott Carpenter says on March 5th, 2007 at 5:24 pm
[blush] Thank you Bob! I really appreciate the time and effort you put into the review - it was honest, constructive and contained some really helpful suggestions.
Daniel Piersa says on March 7th, 2007 at 12:06 pm
Bob, I agree that hand written Thank You cards make more of an impact, especially in a world of mass emails and social networking, but don’t let the snail mail stop there.
I found this really great card store by my house that has cards from independent card makers (Kathleen might find it an interesting browse), and got into the habit of randomly buying cards without any initial intention of sending them to someone in particular. I now have a collection of really great cards for all occasions that I can send at will.
I also picked up some refrigerator magnets at Kinko’s that were meant for sticking business cards onto, but instead customized personal thank you and get well notes on them. You know it goes a long way when your at that person’s house months later and on their fridge they still have your magnet.
Keep up the posts.