I received a hand written thank you card the other day from a potential partner of mine. It got me thinking of the last time I wrote a hand written thank you note vs. an email. When WAS the last time I wrote a thank you note???
Wait, wait, I remember now. It was back in 2008. Yes, 2008! *Insert sad face here.
As I exited the insurance industry in the middle of 2008, just prior to the economic downturn, I was searching for something different, something fresh & new. I consulted for multiple companies on marketing and branding strategies trying to quantify every move, every change, every relationship I built for that specific brand. Results I could see on a pretty multi-colored excel spreadsheet that made me feel happy. X + Y = growth! Hooray!
As I re-entered the insurance world in 2010, I realized that what I was missing from my approach in the insurance industry years prior was an old school business sense where deals were written on napkins and sealed with a handshake. Where relationships weren't calculated, they were organic. Where I asked about my clients children before I asked how business was going.
In a world where everything important is quantified, I'm straying from that initial instinct and finding a balance between the old and new. I think we've come to an age where we text instead of talk. We email instead of snail mail. We instant message instead of meet for coffee or lunch.
Sometimes letting a client, a partner or a colleague know they're important means going back to the old school ways of doing business. You never know how much that thank you note can differentiate yourself from the pack.
I agree!
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