Archive for March, 2010
Writing a Letter Will Amaze and Delight
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I received evidence today that letter writing isn’t dead. I just finished tossing my junk mail, as I do every day. But in between all the magazines and discount flyers for Broadway shows, I was delighted to spy a letter from a new bridge partner containing several instruction sheets with conventions we’re working on. Now, Susanne didn’t have to send these to me. It was a favor and she could have given them to me when we play next week.
Writing a letter will amaze and delight
But her envelope stood out in my pile of mail. This got me thinking once again about how important writing a letter, preferably by hand, still is to us. We cringe under the deluge of email correspondence, deleting most of it without reading. Even a juicy subject line may not be enough to grab our attention.
But a letter?
We can touch the envelope containing the letter and shake it to try and guess at its contents. Sort of useless but we do it. We know that someone else actually held this envelope in his hand and wrote the letter inside. Would you believe that the old-fashioned letter actually has a sense of mystery about it? What will be revealed when I read it? (Envelopes we receive screaming “Save Money Now,” or “0%” Interest” printed on the envelope don’t count — more junk mail).
I’m talking about what is obviously a personal letter — even though the letter may turn out to have a business purpose. So don’t be afraid to seem out of date when you send a client or prospect a personal note. You will amaze and delight her because it obviously took some time to get the paper and envelope, sit down to compose the letter, address, stamp and mail it. How thoughtful of you to send me an article on a subject I’m deeply interested in, or to invite me for cocktails or a seminar.
Thank you note
Don’t forget the thank you note, while we’re at it, which my good friend Andrea Nierenberg wrote about in these pages a few months ago.
I’ll end with a funny question my grandson asked me recently, “When you were young, did you use a quill pen?” Yikes, I’m not that old. But, yes, I did use a pen to write letters when I was younger, before taking the lazy way out too often now and thumbing a note to someone on my new smart phone. Whew, glad that’s off my plate.
White Castle Boss Goes Undercover and Learns Employee Engagement Works
Posted by: | CommentsI was finally persuaded by a friend to watch the new hit show “Undercover Boss.” This reality show confirmed that a CEO can learn a lot about how to make the company better by engaging with employees. For those who haven’t seen the new show on CBS, a CEO goes undercover as an employee in his own company to see for himself how things are working. Dave Rife, owner of the White Castle hamburger chain, was this past Sunday’s undercover snoop.
Praise for a job well done
When he started his adventure, I don’t think he fully understood how stressful the job of a White Castle employee can be, with the fear of losing a job always in the background when you have a disabled child, as one employee did, or another’s fear of simply messing up.
How Do I Do This?
Mr. Big Shot discovered that he couldn’t do simple chores like sliding plastic wrap over a batch of buns in the packaging machine. He ruined several barrels’ worth, prompting a supervisor to say the hogs (who get to enjoy the mangled buns) would be eating well that night.
What he learned best, though, was how important employees are to the success of the company. At a White Castle drive-in a young co-worker explained to him about the importance of greeting each customer and going out of your way to help with little things, like sliding the customer’s credit card in a hard-to-reach slot. In watching this scene, I was almost brought to tears by the young man’s sincerity and dedication. So was Dan Rife.
Another employee showed him a shortcut, but told him not to tell management, because that’s not how they said it was supposed to be done.
After his eye-opening week on the road, working besides his employees, Rife returned to headquarters wiser and more appreciative of what it means to be on the front lines.
Magically, he brought several employees to headquarters to assist with developing training programs – hey, they should. Aren’t they the ones who know what the problems are and how to fix them? He gave a $5,000 scholarship to a budding chef, and another $5,000 to the employee with a disabled child.
The program ended with Rife speaking to a pep rally of employees, beaming with the joy of being acknowledged by the head of the company. Happy with the recognition that they were asked to work as a team to achieve the company’s success.
