Business Letters: How to Write a Thank You Letter

In a competitive market, every little edge you can give yourself is important. One of the least used techniques is the thank-you letter, and yet it is one of the most powerful.

Think about it for a moment. Your business receives a lovely letter from a customer thanking you and your team for wonderful service. How do you feel? What do you do with the letter?

Chances are, if you are like most managers, the letter makes you feel great, you get energised and feel happy. You may go and share the letter with your admin staff members or read it out to your team. Sometimes you put the letters into a folder to show prospective customers, pin them up on the staff noticeboard or even use them as a testimonial ... all from a simple letter that someone took the time to write.

Now consider, how many people have seen the name of the person writing the letter? How many employees now feel positively towards the letter writer? What is the chance that the person who wrote the letter will get much warmer service from your team the next time they visit? When they do, will the letter writer feel even better about your business?

Now imagine you were the letter writer. Writing a thank you letter has three great benefits – it makes you, as a writer, feel fantastic. It makes the person receiving it feel great and it has positive flow-on effects for your business and your team in your business.

Psychologists have studied this virtuous circle, and have found that the positives keep increasing provided nothing enters into the loop to stop it.

Are you convinced that saying thank you is a good thing for your business? If you want to start a Thank You campaign, where do you start?

how to write thank you letters Thank you letters can be sent to suppliers who give great service, loyal customers, team members who go above and beyond the call of duty, candidates who applied for vacancies with your team – there is always someone who has done something nice for your business, or touched your business in a positive way.

So what are the three main rules for how to write a thank you letter?

Keep it:

Fresh – Write it within 48 hours of the event

Specific – Include details of why specifically what the person did that was brilliant. We have all had the "You've done well" sort of notes and they are not as motivating as notes that say "I truly appreciate that you took the time to learn more about our company and to spend time with us in an interview. I know interviews can be nerve racking, yet you presented confidently and warmly. I particularly liked your response to xyz question – it was well thought out."

Sincere – If you don't mean it - don't say it. Be honest and sincere in your thanks.

A few other tips:

Always proof your letter before you send it. Typos or spelling errors can detract from your message.

There is also some debate about handwritten vs typed letters. If you are writing to a specific person, then handwritten is a nice touch. Typed letters are better for businesses (or if your handwriting resembled hieroglyphics).

Remember to match the medium to the message. By that, I mean a tasteful card is perfect for individuals, but for businesses, then corporate printed post-cards or letterhead works well. You can pick up some great ones from Vistaprint if your budget doesn't extend to formal graphic design and printing.

Email your thanks as a last resort. For some reason, email thanks don't seem to generate the same emotional response within people, so the more traditional ink and paper versions will give you the best results.

Yes, I know in our busy lives that writing thank you cards may seem hard to do. The trick is to keep a stack of cards close to hand, and make 15 minutes in your diary once a week to write some thank you cards. Do this, and you will be amazed at the difference those 15 minutes will make to your business.

HR Tip of the Week: What are you doing for Easter?

easter team building ideas Major holidays are a great way to help your team take a breath, come together as a team and celebrate.

So what can you do to make your Easter more special? Here's 5 quick ideas:

Go to your local bakery and buy a pile of hot cross buns. Get a mix of plain, choc, regular and gluten free ones. Remember the butter and have a great morning tea.

Buy a pile of small eggs and arrange an Easter Egg hunt through the office. The best way to do this is to set out the eggs while the team are in the lunchroom with the hot cross buns.

Pop on bunny ears and deliver an egg to each of your team members at the start of work for the day.

Put in a stock of creative bits and pieces and have a creative egg decorating contest judged by the CEO. You can have prizes for the most creative, best use of the company logo, funniest, strangest .. the sky is the limit!

Have team members from different cultural or religious backgrounds share what they do to celebrate Easter (and perhaps have the team bring different dishes to share a meal together).

Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me): Why We Justify Foolish Beliefs, Bad Decisions, and Hurtful Acts

Thanks to all the people who have dropped me an email saying how much they have been enjoying the wander through my library shelves in recent weeks.

This week we have another brilliant neuropsychology book Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me): Why We Justify Foolish Beliefs, Bad Decisions, and Hurtful Acts

If ever you have wanted to know why people try and pass the blame onto others, or will find all sorts of ways not to admit it when they stuff up, then this book is for you.

No-one is sacred. Politicians get a right royal going over, as do people with extra-marital affairs right the way through to why bad people do good things and can still sleep at night.

Packed with scientific studies that are well researched and easy to read about, it is a fascinating insight into human nature that will have you squirming while you gain wisdom into how not to get caught up in the self-justification trap.

To me, this book should be mandatory reading for all CEO's, Boards, law makers and all HR practitioners.

Blog Post of the Week: Be Negative at Your Peril

I love election times - you get a free crash course on the latest marketing trends just by watching the campaigns.

In this post I look at one of the tools TV stations use to track responses during debates, commonly called "the worm", and what the worm highlighted about people's attitudes from the most recent debates.

exuberantly yours

Ingrid

Heart Harmony

Heart Harmony - SEO copywriters

PS: This week's Small Business Tips blog included a post about "Spam Spam Spam Spam".

Legal stuff: This newsletter is intended only a general guideline for Australian businesses. You should seek specific advice for your situation rather than relying only on this newsletter

Earnings disclaimer. Some of the content may include advertorial information, which means I may receive financial compensation for the products I recommend. But - unless I know and trust the product, I will not recommend it.

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