Business Thank You Letters: Money in the Bank?

I get a lot of questions about mailing thank-you letters to clients, because I speak and write about the topic a lot.

In a nutshell, sending thank you letters makes you profitable two ways: by making you remarkable and by making other people feel appreciated. Win-win.

Here are some of the most common questions about sending business thank you letters to clients, with answers ...

Q. Is it okay to send thank-you letters to clients by email, or do I have to mail them?

A. That depends. Is it okay to send birthday cards to your parents or an anniversary card to your spouse by email only? I thought not. Well, the same goes for your clients -- mail them a thank-you note or it means little/nothing.


Q. On what occasions should I send thank-you letters to clients?

A. On what occasions do you want to make clients feel good? Almost any reason will do, but here are 3: thank clients for every purchase, referral, or testimonial they give you.


Q. What format should I follow when sending thank-you letters to clients?

A. The only real way to get a thank-you letter wrong is to not send one. But if you thank them specifically for what they did and tell them how much you appreciate them, you'll be fine.


Q. What about sending thank you notes with pre-printed messages that I just have to sign? Are they okay?

A. Pre-printed thank you letters are about as okay as pre-printed holiday cards -- not okay. The message they convey is: "You're important to me, but not very." One handwritten thank-you note of 30 words is worth more than one pre-printed thank-you note of 300 words, in my view.


Q. I don't have time to send thank-you letters to clients. Do I really have to do this?

A. You make time for all sorts of things that fritter away your time, energy, and money every day. You can make time -- about 20 minutes are all that are needed -- to write and mail 3-5 thank-you notes every day.

Here's a final reason to mail thank you notes to clients, from sales legend Tom Hopkins:

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 the names of at least ten people every day. 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 100% 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.

Resource: If you want to put an end to "feast-or-famine" syndrome in your business, the free Client Cloning Kit can help. Grab your copy here.