Archive for November, 2009
Thank You Notes Are Not Only a Courtesy, They Can Lead to New Business
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Andrea Nierenberg
One of the easiest and most effective ways to stay in touch is with the power of the personal note with a “thank you” to a business associate. In research I’ve conducted, I ask the question, “How many of you send out personal notes?” I also ask, “How many of you receive personal notes or cards from clients or business associates?” The response indicates that few people take this practice seriously. As a follow up, I ask, “Has anyone received notes of appreciation, and how does that make you feel?” I trust you know the answer to this last question.
Here are eight opportunities to send a “thank you,” and when and how to do it effectively:
1. When customers do business with you, every time. Write a short, personalized “thank you” on an interesting card, letterhead, or even a postcard that says, “I appreciate your business, thank you.” You can never say thank you to someone too many times. We all appreciate the fact that people go out of their way to make us feel important and recognized.
2. When they compliment you. When a client compliments you about something, it’s an opportunity to jot off a little note of thanks, saying, “Thank you for taking the time for making my day. I appreciate it.” Compliments are given so rarely, so take the lead to say thank you when you get one.
3. When clients offer comments or suggestions. It’s a wonderful gift when your clients give you a suggestion or comment on how you might do something better or different. They’re also giving you an incredible buying signal. They might really be saying, “If you make that change, your product or service will be more attractive to me.” Here’s how to start this type of note: “Thank you for your suggestion on how I can better serve you. I’m in business to do exactly that. And you make my job easier and so much more enjoyable when you provide input.”
4. When customers try something you recommended. When clients buy into something new, solely based on your suggestion, they’re going out of their “comfort zone”. They’re putting trust in you and your product. This calls for a special note that could read, “Thank you for your trust in me. I value your business.”
5. When customers recommend you. This is the best form of advertising you can ever get. It’s so easy to take the time and go back to our advocate, and say, “thank you for referring me to —–. I will keep you posted and informed on what develops. It means a great deal to me to know that you’re willing to recommend me. I appreciate it.” This type of “thank you” might include a small gift as well.
6. When customers are patient, or not so patient. Our clients help us when they give us time to learn how to best serve them. Often this requires their patience. On the other hand, they give us a “wake up call” when they ask us to hurry up. When this happens they might really be saying, “Hello, remember me? Keep me in mind, or I might get swept away by the competition.” In either case, pull out a note card again, and let them know how important they are to you. Perhaps say, “Thanks for keeping me on my toes. I appreciate how you help me keep your business.”
7. When clients say “no” to you. You’ve just pitched an account and you didn’t get their business, this time. It’s still the opportunity to write a short note. Thank them for their time, their consideration and their honesty. Keep the door opened by being friendly and courteous. Research I conducted in the last three years shows that almost 20% of my business comes from prospects that said no the first time. People remembered the notes I sent and it made a difference. Such a difference that I got referrals, even from contacts that were not able to use my services themselves.
8. When customers make you smile. I have one client who e-mails me jokes all the time. Another one will call up and just give me some good news. Whatever it is, it makes me smile, and I want clients to know that they’ve made me feel good. I’ll send them an interesting note or card. This technique always gets noticed and remembered.
So, if you’re not using personal thank-you notes, you should start now and watch how they help your business grow.
Andrea Nierenberg is president of The Nierenberg Group , an international business consulting firm specializing in customized training, workshops and keynote addresses that equip executives with the tools they need to “Find, Grow & Keep”® the clients that are key to their success and to be more effective business communicators.
Just like clockwork, I received my twice-weekly email from Sherry, one of the bridge directors and instructors from my local duplicate club where I play. For more than six months, since I returned to playing duplicate bridge, I have been receiving these reminders about the Tuesday and Thursday morning games. “Are you playing tomorrow morning?” she’ll ask. Read on and you’ll understand what I’ve learned about business communication from Sherry.
I’ve come to look for the bright blue type in Comic Sans MS – her personal brand. Every one talks about Sherrie’s blue emails. She has built the game from five tables on a Thursday to a dozen or more and then started the Tuesday game, which is growing.
A simple little thing like bold blue lettering in 27 point type makes her stand out from the hundred or more emails I receive daily. She’s also mastered the art of giving to get. Give something free – in her case copies of bridge hands, or tips on playing bridge conventions – and then ask for the order. If you don’t have a partner, she’ll find one for you.
Her emails are pleasant, too. Today she’s wished everyone on her list a Happy Thanksgiving. Then she issued an invitation to her Monday morning class (paying). The carrot if you register is an exercise to practice in advance. She even mentions dressing in layers because the heating system is unpredictable! She ends with the usual reminder:
“Tomorrow is Silver Point Tuesday & there is still time for you to play in the morning game, so email me if you would like to play. No game Thursday morning. Enjoy! Sherry”
So, this is the lesson about email business communication that 
I’ve learned from Sherrie:
- Be consistent with the timing of your emails. Inject a sense of urgency if there is a deadline to be met.
- Use a large distinctive typeface with a bold color.
- Give something away before asking for the order.
- Be pleasant and attentive to your customers. Offer to help, whatever your business may be.
And by the way, Happy Thanksgiving!
For those of you who do not know me, my name is Bea Fields, and I coach, consult and train executive level and senior manager level leaders for a living. There is one truth that I have discovered (not THE truth but one truth that I see every day in the work that I do as a leader.)
At the end of the day, your company will either sink or swim based on how well you communicate.
I am sure you have heard this 1,000 times…”Great communication is necessary for great leadership” or “We must communicate better if we want to be successful” , womp, womp, womp. The topic of communication has been beaten to death, so we have become numb to its importance. We go about our day not returning phone calls to customers, sending out curt, hurtful e-mails, turning a deaf ear to our employees and just basically shutting people out or cutting them off at the knees.
In this day and age, I have a prediction…and I am not a futurist. I believe that those companies who will succeed in the future will be those companies who learn to not only communicate better with their customers but who take the time to actually learn how to communicate across generational and cultural barriers. I believe those companies and businesses who choose to ignore this important aspect of communication will perish. In order to be successful with this process, you do have to take the time to learn about each generation in our workforce… their values, key motivating factors and how they best like to communicate so that you can begin to knock down the walls which are so strongly holding up the divide.
So, here is a run down of the six generations who are alive and well in our world and interacting with our businesses as consumers, investors and advocates. I do want to state upfront that there is a great debate about the birth years of each generation and about stereotyping based on birth years. Just to set the record straight…these traits have very little to do with the age of each generation and much more to do with the world events which unfolded during their early years (ages 5-19) which helped shape the world views, mindset and values of each generation. This one piece of the puzzle is critical to understand…that our environment and marked events do shape our thinking…and our thinking shapes the way we communicate.
So, here we go…The 6 Generations:
1920's Businessman
THE GI GENERATION
Birth Years: 1901-1924
Significant World Events:
- The Roaring 20′s
- The Birth of Scouting Clubs
- Invention of Vitamins
- Movement into the Great Depression
- Telephone calls made via operator until the rotary dial telephone became commonplace (circa 1919)
- Telephone transmission across major cities becomes the norm
- First transcontinental telephone communication
Characteristics:
- Achievers
- Believers
- Inventors
Values:
- Simplicity
- Uniformity
- Cooperation
- Leadership
- Saving the world
Communication Preferences:
- Face to face communication
- Rotary dial telephone
- Hand written letters
Communication Obstacles:
- Fax
- Cell phones
- Text
- Social networking sites
The Teletypewriter Comes Alive in 1931...Leading the Way to Fax Machines
TRADITIONALISTS
Birth Years: 1925-1945
Significant World Events:
- The Great Depression
- The end of the affluence of the Roaring 20′s
- World Wars I and II
- The Korean War
- The G.I. Bill
- Teletypewriter service is initiated
Characteristics:
- Waste not, want not
- Loyal
- Patriotic
- Faith in institutions
- Hierarchical thinking
Values:
- Logic
- Loyalty
- Discipline
- Tradition
- Family
- Leaving a legacy
Communication Preferences:
- Face to face communication
- Formal typed or hand-written letters
Communication Obstacles:
- Fax
- Cell phones (most use cell phones for emergency only)
- Text
- Social networking sites
The Touch Tone Telephone Revolutionizes Communiciation in the 1960's
BABY BOOMERS
Birth Years: 1946-1964
Significant World Events:
- Vietnam war
- The move to suburbia
- Color television
- Street drugs
- Assassination of President John F. Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King
- Civil rights protests and movement
- Woodstock
- Invention of the touch tone telephone
- First video phone
Characteristics:
- Hard-working
- Keeping up with the Joneses
- Idealistic
- Questioning authority
- Climbing the corporate ladder
- Highly competitive
- The first “me” generation
Values:
- Hard work (70 hour work weeks)
- Getting ahead
- Being noticed, becoming famous
- Money
- Freedom
- Being “me”
Communication Preferences:
- Telephone
- Face to face
- Fax
- E-mail (and a lot of it!)
- Group/team meetings (and a lot of them!)
- Cell phones for talking (not necessarily for texting)
- Neighborhood street parties
Communication Obstacles:
- Social networking sites
- Blogging
- Texting
- Technophobia
Bill Gates & Steve Jobs Then and Now...They Changed the Way Future Generations Will Communicate Forever!
GENERATION X: THE LOST GENERATION
Birth Years: 1965-1978
Significant World Events:
- Expanded technology (computer mania)
- Dot.com boom and dot.com bust
- Sesame Street
- The start of the melting pot syndrome
- The AIDS Epidemic
- Climbing divorce rates
- Latch key syndrome kids
- MTV and VH1
- First cellular phone (yet not sophisticated) was introduced
- Apple and Microsoft become tech giants
Characteristics
- “Reality Bites”
- Skeptical of higher institutions
- Cynical about marriage and life
- Fiercely independent
- Questioning everything
- Tech savvy
- Globally concerned
Values:
- Independence
- Freedom
- Friends
- Mobility
- Security
Communication Preferences
- Let “me” choose my communication and how often I do it
- Cell phone
- Text
- Blogging
- Instant message
- Online forums
Communication Barriers:
- Face to face communication
- Formal letter writing
- Team discussions (better one on one or alone)
- Difficulty with communicating up or down a generation
- Some barriers with social networks
Social Media Sites Burst Onto the Front Lines of Communication in the 1990's
GENERATION Y:
Birth Years: 1979-1997
Significant World Events:
- September 11
- High speed access
- Overnight delivery
- The information age
- You Tube
- “Everything and Anything Goes” pop culture
- Helicopter parents and the birth of the self esteem movement
- Shootings at Columbine and Virginia Tech
- Cell phone mania
- Invention of online social networks (Facebook and My Space)
Characteristics:
- Open and accepting of diverse backgrounds
- Very concerned about social and global issues
- Worldly
- Knowledge workers
- Team players
- Multi-taskers
- “Me”
- Impatient
- Need for speed and thrill
Values:
- Live first, work second
- Speed
- Information/knowledge
- Friends
- Fun
- Saving the world
- Creativity
- Simplicity
- Balance
Communication Preferences:
- Text
- Online social networks
- E-mail (but only for work or school)
- Instant message
Communication Obstacles:
- Face to face conversations
- Telephone conversations
- Professional or even casual letter writing (what’s that?)
THE RISING GENERATION (BORN AFTER 1997)
This generation has yet to be profiled. Some people are calling this generation “Generation Z,” and many demographers believe that they are going to look very much like our Traditionalist Generation. (Generations do repeat themselves every 80 years or after 4 generations have evolved…they begin to repeat. As an example, Generation Y is actually looking very, very much like our G.I. Generation.) Our current recession is more than likely going to create a generation that is frugal, socially conscious, and craving the need for integrity. This generation is yet to be defined, but I believe this generation along with Gen Y are going to be radically changing our world! Having said this, we are, however, already seeing that texting is indeed one of their favorite forms of communication, and cell phones are being placed in their palms at an earlier and earlier age, as early as age 9.
So, now that I have profiled the six generations, what does this mean for you? Here is a quick punch list of things to consider:
1. Each generation has a unique mindset…this world view was formed through the course of significant events which took place in their lifetime and left an imprint in their minds.
2. As technology evolves, each generation will develop unique communication preferences and obstacles which come about as we grow and evolve.
3. In order to truly be able to make it in this world, I believe that each person needs to know how to do it all, including knowing how to:
- Write a well-written, thoughtful letter…both a personal and professional letter
- Hold a professional and personal conversation by telephone which is relaxed and engaging
- Use the most up to date technology, including e-mail, blogging, cell phones, text messaging, instant messaging, Skype and yes…social networks such as Twitter and Facebook
- Speak to others in a face to face interaction without feeling anxious or awkward
- Speak in public to others (I do believe that each person should know how to deliver a public speech…even if it is only a 3-minute speech)
- Blog…blogging is the present and future of web presentation (who knows…it will probably go out of style in the next decade, but for now…blogging is where the juice is, because a blog stimulates the dialogue that we are all craving in life!)
If you know how to communicate using each and every tool, then 75% of your work in communication will be so much easier. Each generation will know and understand that you respect them enough to learn how to use the communication tools they most prefer. And…if you are of a more senior generation…trust me on this…it is your obligation to our future generations to set the tone and to step up and be the first to take on learning how to use a new communication tool (YES! That means…if you are a technophobe and you are out there making fun of Twitter, it’s time for you to start Tweeting and posting notes on Facebook!) Once you model this willingness and commitment to learning new approaches to communication, you will be able to connect with your younger generations long enough to teach them a few skills (such as face to face interactions, letter writing and speaking in public) which will strengthen their ability to be successful for a lifetime.
This post was contributed by guest blogger, Bea Fields. Bea is the President of Bea Fields Companies, Inc. and the co-author of Millennial Leaders: Success Stories From Today’s Most Brilliant Generation Y Leaders.
I just returned from a joyous concert by the U.S. Army’s “Pershing” Band, as it is known, that was in town for its annual concert at Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall. As I sat there with friends tapping my feet and applauding every brassy patriotic song, I thought what a great lesson I was learning about communications. And that’s this: when you communicate with joy, you turn an audience into your biggest fans.
And there was no doubt the musicians were having as much fun as the audience. At the end, the Band played the anthem for each of the service branches and one by one young and grizzled veterans stood proudly while the audience cheered wildly.
I thought: let’s pretend the bandleader is a company CEO. He’s leading his musicians with infectious joy. Wow, it’s great to work for this company. Is there any employee who won’t want to follow? How about making it a point to write to employees whenever there is some good news to report – big or small. Don’t let every communiqué be about the next layoff or we’ve all got to tighten our belts again. Your employees know that things may be rough in the company, unless they’ve got their heads in the sand, which is doubtful.
This is the truth: bad news spreads via the grapevine faster than good news. Fire just one person and before you know it the grapevine has translated that to more layoffs. So, if you’re the CEO, make sure you feed the grapevine and your normal communications channels with all the good news you can. It will make you feel better and your employees will become your loyal fans.
