Customer Service: Turning off the marketing remote control

One thing I try to do from time to time write thank you card and handwritten notes to people who have bought from me or I’m working with. Not so much to show off my terrible penmanship, but because sending handwritten notes are one of the things that many people still appreciate especially since everything seems to be so automated nowadays with automatic emails, tweets, and Facebook messages.

There’s even some services that will allow you to automate your card and note giving. While I don’t think that there’s anything wrong with a service like that, it’s really not for me. The way I see it, it kind of defeats the purpose of sending the card in the first place if you’re simply automating it like it was an email. It’s the fact that you took the time to actually write the note that has the meaning.

Now of course doing this takes time and effort and we’re all busy. But if you want to start getting into the habit of sending out written notes and thank yous, here are a few things that helps me.

• Be prepared- I try to keep a supply of stamps, thank you cards, and blank note cards on hand so if I want to write a quick thank you or a quick note I don’t have run to the store or the post office first. Here’s a preparation thing that my husband does that’s always impressive. Whenever he’s going to meet someone for an interview, a meeting, or a business gathering, he carries thank you cards with him, already stamped and addressed. He writes his thank you out immediately after the meeting and drops it off at the post office on the way home. Talk about being prepared!
• Plan known events like birthdays and anniversaries- Keep important dates like birthdays and anniversaries on your calendar and review it regularly. When you know a birthday is coming up, write the card a couple weeks before and send it when the birth date gets closer. Like the thank you cards, I make sure I get the birthday cards purchased in advance.
• Set aside a time- While I do spontaneously write thank you’s and notes when the occasion calls for it, I try to plan a specific time every few weeks to write out cards for known events and thank you’s.
• Make it fun- It becomes less of a chore if you find ways to make the process fun. One thing I love is sending out unique, well designed cards, especially if they’re handmade. While buying the more artistic cards can run into a bit more money, it’s also a lot more fun to send them, plus it’s a great way to support some of the great letterpress and stationary artists out there.
• Don’t concentrate on being “perfect”- One reason why I’ve hesitated with sending handwritten notes is because I’ve never liked my handwriting and I always worried about how ugly it would look. It seems to be a pretty dumb reason, but sometimes people hesitate sending notes because they’re not sure what to write, they’re afraid what they’ll write will seem silly, or like me they’re afraid that their hand writing is illegible (or perhaps it actually is). Fact is, most people don’t even notice stuff like that. They’re happy enough at the fact of your thoughtfulness. So while you do want to make sure what you write is thoughtful and looks as nicely written as possible, you don’t need to dwell on it to the point that you never send the note at all.

P.S. If your handwriting really is so hopeless that no one can read your writing you can a) work on improving it, there’s two good books that will teach you how to improve your handwriting; Teach Yourself Better Handwriting by Rosemary Sassoon and Write Now: The Complete Program For Better Handwriting by Barbara Getty. Your second option is b) get someone with better handwriting to write your thank you’s out for you. Just type out your messages and hand your list off to a friend, spouse, or assistant to write out the notes.

So what method do you use to keep in touch with your customers? Leave a comment and let me know!

Card image by Inkspot Workshop

Tagged as: art marketing, selling crafts