“Nothing better may carry and connect sincere hearts than a travel-worn letter with your name and address, hand written.”
– Hyejin Lee, South Korean native living in the USA
“The decline of the personal letter has not only taken the thrill out of opening the mailbox; it imperils the writing of history. What will future biographers have to work with, text messages, Facebook walls and credit-card receipts?”
– Gregg Easterbrook, in a 2012 Wall Street Journal review of Jay Wilkinson’s “Dear Jay, Love Dad”
The headline says “Differentiation,” but, you may be wondering to yourself, “Self, where is he going with these two quotes!?”
Here’s where I am going.
Do the 88 e-mails we’ll send today differentiate our message, especially if the topic is really important?
Will the 53 text messages we’ll send today differentiate our message, especially if the topic is really important?
Granted, I still try to send a handful of hand-written notes every day, so I’m biased. (In fact, check this recent post and the great story behind it!) Granted, Pat Heston raised her kids to be sorta “old school” on this topic. Granted, I could use that :12 – :15 minutes for more text-messaging or e-mailing. I could probably even text or e-mail another five or six clients with a “snippet” in those extra minutes.
But, to kick off a series on “differentiation,” consider these questions:
When your client gets his or her mail today, will there be anything other than solicitations, brochures for the next big conference or bills, etc?
If there was a letter or note – hand written both inside and on the envelope – what do you think they’d open first?
What would you open first?
Occasionally, I still get asked why I send handwritten notes and letters.
The answers are simple. When I send one to a customer – for whatever purpose – two things happen. One, they usually call me on the phone that day. When they do that, we actually talk to each other. Sometimes for long periods of time. Two, the next time I am in their office, that note will be somewhere visible. Pinned on the back wall of the credenza, maybe, or still on the corner of the desk, even a couple weeks, and sometimes even a couple months later. I sent a note to a customer back in 1997. Six years later, he called and requested a meeting, when I was working for another company. The note was still pinned up above his desk. I said, “Gee, that was a nice touch, pulling out that old note.” His reply? “I didn’t pull it out. I’m leaving it up there as an example to our calling officers until I get another one from someone else.”
Do we want to have relationships that “imperil the writing of history” (sorta melodramatic, I know, but it serves my point…just sayin’…), or do we want to have relationships differentiated by carrying and connecting hearts?
One way to make a difference.
More to come.
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