A User's Guide to the
Handwritten Note
I am sometimes frustrated that a professional
services industry such as ours does not leverage
more opportunities to lend a personal touch to its
business development, project delivery, and hiring
processes. Not only is this perplexing to me, but it's
ironic given that the essence of what we do is provide
personalized service.
While examples of missed opportunities to lend the
personal touch abound in this age of technology, the
one I'd like to focus on is the handwritten note
— an endangered species in our culture of
efficiency and instant gratification.
At the top of the list of predators jeopardizing the
existence of this species, whose numbers have
dramatically dwindled, is e-mail. While e-mail is truly
an essential tool in today's business, there are times
when sending an e-mail message is either
inappropriate or represents a missed opportunity to
connect with a client or job candidate.
The beauty of handwritten notes is that, in my
experience, they nearly always get opened and
read (when was the last time you tossed one?).
As such, they get past "screeners" because they're so
unusual in this age of e-mail and mass-produced
mailings. Even someone like me, with handwriting
more akin to a seven-year-old, is firmly entrenched in
the personal notes camp. And they can really make
an impact! One client e-mailed me after receiving my
note following a project kickoff meeting, "Rich, you do
this follow-up thing so well. I'm so impressed; I got the
hand-written card within four days of our meeting.
Now I know you truly practice what you preach."
I've also observed that many of my prospective
clients staple my note to their "Rich Friedman" folder.
Don't get me wrong — I'm not saying that
clients will hire you because of these notes.
But in an often-crowded competitive landscape, you
need to differentiate your firm and yourself in both
business development and hiring. To the
client/prospective hire, the business
development/hiring process is a proxy for what it's
like to work with/for your firm. And hand-written
connotes personalized service.
The handwritten note needs a PR consultant. Many
folks in today's workplace, particularly the Gen-Y
crew, don't understand why or when they should be
used, at times, in place of e-mail. Further, there's a
perception that it takes too long to write a note (the
only real added time involved is that required to write
the envelope and attach the self-adhesive stamp).
That generation routinely pushes back: "e-mails are
'acceptable practice' these days." This happened to
me recently after I advised a Gen-Y job candidate to
send a personal hand-written note after an e-mail.
When it comes to landing a key client or hire,
however, I'd rather leave the "acceptable practices" to
my competitors.
There are a number of opportunities to send
hand-written notes to past/current/prospective clients,
partner firms, prospective hires, and staff:
- After a business development call/meeting
- After meeting someone at a conference or trade
show
- To thank and welcome a new client after they've
selected your firm
- To thank a client at the end of a project and to
express your desire to work with them again
- To thank an editor after their publication has
written about your firm or included an article you
wrote
- To express regret after a project screw-up,
miscommunication, or something similar (doing so
should not replace a phone call or in-person
meeting, it should supplement it)
- To court a prospective key hire
- To follow up with professional association staff
after joining a committee or being selected to give a
talk
- To recognize notable staff contributions to big
projects
If your firm doesn't have note cards, I strongly
encourage you to have them printed up with your
logo and contact information, along with envelopes
containing your return address.
Here are some other tips that I've found helpful:
- Carry a bunch of note cards/envelopes in your
computer bag when traveling for business. Plane
flights are a great time to write these notes while a
meeting is fresh in your mind and before you return to
your work and family "inboxes."
- When sending notes to individuals who attended
the same meeting (or in the case of interviewing with
several people), don't repeat the exact same content.
I learned the hard way. Many years ago, I had an
instance where two firm principals compared their
notes and gave me good-spirited grief that their notes
were nearly identical.
I'm sure there are many other applications —
let me know if I've left out any. If you have questions
or feedback about this topic, feel free to write me a
personalized note, call me at 508-276-1101, or send
me an e-mail at
rich@friedmanpartners.com.
Rich Friedman, President
Friedman & Partners
