With so many great online sales tools floating around out there these days, it’s easy to forget about the time-tested sales methods. Whether it’s having great signs, or making an actual phone call (God forbid), certain sales techniques never go out of style or lose their effectiveness. And, they certainly shouldn’t be ignored.
Case in point: The humble Thank You Note.
Recently, Professor Amit Kumar, who studies wellbeing at the University of Texas, created a study to discover the effects these little tokens of gratitude have on their recipients. The outcome was quite eye-opening.
Some takeaways are:
- Senders typically thought the recipients would rate their happiness level at a three out of five (five being the highest) after receiving the notes, but most were actually in the four to five range, or “ecstatic”.
- Recipients didn’t care much about how well the note was phrased, nor did they heavily scrutinize it, as the senders thought they would. The thoughtfulness of the act was enough.
- The average writing time was about 5 minutes.
So, go buy some stamps and envelopes and start sending those thank you notes. See if you can get some stationary for added professionalism and branding benefits for your builder. It’s really not all that expensive. Sure, a customized email is OK, but there’s just something special about receiving a hand-written letter, and now the science is there to prove it.
