Yesterday, I received a thank you letter from one of my customers. That may not seem strange at first, but two things stood out to me. First, a customer took the time to send me a letter, when I am usually the one saying thanks to them. And second, it was handwritten, dropped in a mailbox with a stamp, and delivered the old fashioned way!
And it felt so good to open the mailbox (which we tend to do about once a week or so) and see a handwritten note standing out among the crowd. And that’s what it did - it stood out!
I am reminded that sometimes going back to the basics is exactly what good customer service needs. In an era when we can feverishly type an email or thumb a text, someone took the time to sit down and pen a personal note, dig for a stamp, and drop it in a mailbox. It gave me a sense of joy and made me feel like I have made a difference for someone else.
When the pandemic first began, I set out to write five notes each day. I saw that people were struggling with all the feelings of not being able to properly socialize in our “usual” ways. So by writing a note, I had hoped it would bring that same sense of joy to others. And I think it did. Perhaps people were just surprised and delighted to receive USPS mail.
I may not be writing five notes a day anymore, but I do try to send at least five each week. Whether to a friend, family member, customer, donor, or just leaving a note on the table for my husband, it captures the element of surprise and also joy. It’s a reminder that I am thinking of them and that I took the time to say hello - in today’s non-traditional way.
In a world full of Zoom, FaceTime, Teams, WebEx, and other conferencing tools that force us to think about camera angles and background lighting in new ways, sometimes going back to the basics and just writing a simple note to someone makes all the difference.
John Mainella
Principal
Cape Fletcher Associates
#Philanthropy #Giving #Development #Hamilton #ListenMore #DaleCarnegie #CapeFletcher #DevelopmentProfessional #ThankYou #ThankYouNote #Stewardship #TakeAMoment #GivingCycle #Zoom #WebEx #Teams #Covid19 #Mail #JohnMainella #MichaelPettry
Comments