Recently, while sending out Christmas cards, I started thinking about companies I do business with and the employees who go above and beyond my expectations every time. I wanted to send them a card as well, to let them know how much I value their service. This got me thinking about why it is that we don't send thank you notes to businesses anymore. Or, maybe some people do. I know that I don't, and I don't know anyone who does, so, perhaps there are still avid thank you note writers out there. However, if you are like me, you probably don't know what the proper etiquette is for sending a thank you note to a business.
In my search for help on the subject, I found a great article on the subject at Mint.com, and I thought I should share some of their tips, along with some of my own. So, how should you do it?
- Send it to the employee – Consider who it is that you want to thank. Is it the team as a whole, the boss or a certain individual? If it is one person who helped you, send the note to them and send a copy to their boss. Keep in mind that your thank you note may go in their permanent file, and get them some well-deserved praise from their higher-ups. Sending the copy to the boss ensures that the person you are thanking isn't put in the position of having to show it to the boss and feel like they are bragging.
- Choose your medium – Should you send a hand-written note or an email? Emails are faster, but hand-written notes are more personal. It is best to email a large business and send a hand-written letter to the smaller ones.
- Keep it short – This isn't the time to write pages and pages. Try to keep in down to two paragraphs. The letter should basically state who you are, how often you do business with the company, what happened, what the employee did and how it makes you feel about the company in general.
- Be specific – Try to be as specific as possible about what exactly the employee did that was so special. The reason for this, is that often this sort of note will go in their employment file and even be looked at during employee evaluations. You want to be sure the employee is rewarded for the specific behavior rather than the vague “job well done”.
We are quick to write letters to companies to complain about lousy service and defective products, but rarely do we take the time to praise excellent service. And, on one hand, you may think that they are just doing their job, (which is true) but often, employees aren't being rated by how they make customers feel, but by how productive they are. Sending a thank you note will ensure that they get some well-deserved praise for their efforts.
By Melissa Kennedy- Melissa is a 9 year blog veteran and a freelance writer, along with helping others find the job of their dreams, she enjoys computer geekery, raising a teenager, supporting her local library, writing about herself in the third person and working on her next novel.
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