THIS IS PART OF A SERIES OF POSTS ON WHAT YOU CAN DO TO BE MORE SUCCESSFUL IN YOUR BUSINESS THIS YEAR. TO GET A FREE REPORT FULL OF SUCCESS TIPS FOR YOUR BUSINESS, CLICK HERE.

When I was a kid, my mom would always have me send out thank you notes for birthday cards and presents. She thought it was important to acknowledge when someone did something nice for you. She was right. And even though you don’t have a mom telling you to do it now, you should be sending out thank you notes to people who give you business, your customers.

Lizzy Shaw, of Lizzy Shaw Public Relations, suggests just that in our free report, The Number One Thing to Make Your Business More Successful. She says this:

Follow up with clients and customers right away and make sure they are happy with the service they received. This also includes thanking them for their business. If it is possible, a HANDWRITTEN note can be a clincher. I think that most people forget to say thank you, and certainly almost no one sends physical mail anymore, so a handwritten note makes an impression.

Relationships, Not Sales

As I write this, I have a stack of thank you notes that I need to write. This is an important part of the process, but since it is after the sale, sometimes we forget about it or put it off. What you need to do is stop thinking of customers in terms of sales and start thinking of them in terms of relationships. Do things to build and keep the customer relationship happy. Thank you notes are an important part of this.

A First Step

Even though a thank you may come at the end of the sale, you can think of it as a first step. Here is what I mean. The thank you note comes on the tail end of the first experience with the customer. Now that the transaction is over, you have reached that uncomfortable stage of the relationship. You can do nothing, and let things fizzle. Or, you could work on establishing a long term relationship, a friendship with your customer. A thank you note is only the first step in this. You’ll want to keep the conversation going with emails, phone calls, conferences, and more.

Make it Policy

Even if you don’t do any of that, sending a thank you note is just a nice touch. People like to be appreciated. So make it a policy and make it stick. Send a thank you out to all of your customers. If you are in retail, you probably can’t collect everyone’s address. But you can still have a thank you policy. Maybe you can collect as many email addresses as possible and send out a personal thank you email. Perhaps you can recognize your regulars and give them a thank you gift.

Make an Impression

As Lizzy Shaw says, a hand-written note makes an impression. Anything you do to personally thank your customers will have a lasting effect. The benefit comes in increased loyalty, increased likelihood that the customer will refer you, and just overall good will. There is another benefit as well. This comes to you, as you think about each customer and take a moment out of the day to appreciate them. This will lead you to valuing your customers more. In fact, as you see your own appreciation grow, you will probably want to build a thank you policy into your business so that each employee has a chance to personally thank customers and appreciate them.

So take the advice of moms everywhere, say thank you. Its not hard, and it is very rewarding. I’m going to write a few thank you notes today, how about you?

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Bradford Shimp helps small businesses build their online presence at BroadRiverCreative.com

photo credit: laurenatclemson