Getting back to basics: Handwritten notes
Posted By Amanda Collins on March 13, 2010
As a business owner, there’s not an event I attend where there isn’t a SendOutCards (SOC) representative. In fact, some of my friends rep for the brand. I know a lot of people who use the service and absolutely love it. Their feeling is that it keeps them in touch with their clients – easily – and they likely wouldn’t do so without the online process. I completely understand and am not here to trash a reputable company. For my part, though, I prefer to go old school: I write all my cards by hand.
It seems that each birthday and winter holiday season when I was a child I’d receive stationery. I was trained from a young age to send thank-you cards for everything I got, and as I was growing up, the Internet wasn’t even a thought, so letters had to suffice. I have nice penmanship and, well, I’m a writer, so it’s never been an issue. And, like SOC boasts, who doesn’t like to receive a card in the mail? In this age of mouseclicks and Facebook, it’s much more personal.
My background is in college admissions. I worked at a small school and a large university – and I wrote all my cards by hand. Whether it was a thank you for visiting the campus, a follow-up to a recruiting visit I’d made to their high school, or a happy wish for a birthday, I would go through pen after pen inking nice, personalized messages. My forte is marketing communications; I build and implement communications strategies to turn prospects into clients. Part of that strategy involves a number of touches, and handwritten cards have always been one tool in that box. [If you're a job seeker, remember handwritten thank-you notes following interviews. I have won a couple of tight races just because I sent a card.]
In my own business, if I have your address, you can expect a card after we meet in person, you become a client, or you send along a referral. Even in the advent of online automators, I still pull out my (red) pen and scribe the note myself. I’ve had to go through physical therapy and chiropractic for the issues to my right hand, elbow, and shoulder from all my writing – but that won’t deter me. To me, it’s the little things that matter, and I’m far more impressed when I get a card someone took the time to write over one that was typed on the computer and spit out to mail to me with the obvious SOC envelope.
So if you’re using SOC, good for you! At least you’re making the effort. But I’m going to continue writing out my cards by hand as long as it’s an option. Maybe I’m just old school.
