"Thank You" is an Ongoing Process
"Thank You" is an Ongoing Process
My friend Joann’s experience is a good example. Several years ago, she passed on a solid, lucrative job lead to her friend who was in transition. She got the perfunctory “thank you.” Imagine Joann’s surprise when she picked up a business newspaper and saw her friend’s picture prominently displayed with a blurb about her new position. Never another thank-you, handwritten note, flowers … much less an offer of breakfast or lunch. Nothing, that is, until last month when her friend, who again is in transition, called to ask for help in her job search! Needless to say, Joann is not as motivated to help this time.
It’s not that people expect you to spend money to say “thank you.” What they would like is to be treated courteously and respectfully for the time and effort they expended helping you. Simple, occasional updates help show your appreciation.
These guidelines may help you with your “thank yous.”
· Immediately follow up with a short e-mail/telephone note of thanks when you receive a job or sales lead or any other referral that eliminates another step in the six degrees of separation.
· After your first interaction or after the first meeting, again send a short e-mail to inform the person who made the referral that you have connected with your target.
· If the process is prolonged, occasionally inform the person making the referral of your progress. That person, by the way, may be just the right one to intervene on your behalf and get the wheels moving again. And, they might do it on their own, depending on your relationship.
· Absolutely, unequivocally inform the person who gave you the lead when the sale is made or the job is offered/accepted! It’s hard to think of any reason that would you keep you mum at this point.
· If you landed employment or the sale is substantial, consider sending a small gift such as flowers, a box of (good) golf balls, a restaurant gift certificate etc. It is vital that the gift match the other person’s interest … so you may need to do some research. Suggest breakfast or lunch if you know the person well enough and think she/he would be comfortable with that offer. Generally, don’t suggest dinner as that can have a questionable connotation, particularly if the person is of the opposite sex.
· Optional: If the referral never pans out, you might after several months wish to notify the person giving it that nothing conclusive happened.
One of the prevalent themes at an IT seminar I attended is that technology people are usually far better at dealing with data than with people. One of the panelists recalled how in graduate school he was given an assignment that assumed he had been promoted and had to prioritize his new inbox. He recalled being soundly reprimanded for choosing to put three congratulatory notes at the bottom of the list and not respond to them.
I hope you know better!
Thank You is an Ongoing Process - To learn more about this author, visit Lillian D. Bjorseth's Website.
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Many people say “thank you” when you send them a referral, a job lead or connect them with someone they want to meet. However, just as many forget to keep you in the loop as the lead matures and, especially, when they get the sale or the job. It’s as if they think once was enough.
My friend Joann’s experience is a good example. Several years ago, she passed on a solid, lucrative job lead to her friend who was in transition. She got the perfunctory “thank you.” Imagine Joann’s surprise when she picked up a business newspaper and saw her friend’s picture prominently displayed with a blurb about her new position. Never another thank-you, handwritten note, flowers … much less an offer of breakfast or lunch. Nothing, that is, until last month when her friend, who again is in transition, called to ask for help in her job search! Needless to say, Joann is not as motivated to help this time.
It’s not that people expect you to spend money to say “thank you.” What they would like is to be treated courteously and respectfully for the time and effort they expended helping you. Simple, occasional updates help show your appreciation.
These guidelines may help you with your “thank yous.”
· Immediately follow up with a short e-mail/telephone note of thanks when you receive a job or sales lead or any other referral that eliminates another step in the six degrees of separation.
· After your first interaction or after the first meeting, again send a short e-mail to inform the person who made the referral that you have connected with your target.
· If the process is prolonged, occasionally inform the person making the referral of your progress. That person, by the way, may be just the right one to intervene on your behalf and get the wheels moving again. And, they might do it on their own, depending on your relationship.
· Absolutely, unequivocally inform the person who gave you the lead when the sale is made or the job is offered/accepted! It’s hard to think of any reason that would you keep you mum at this point.
· If you landed employment or the sale is substantial, consider sending a small gift such as flowers, a box of (good) golf balls, a restaurant gift certificate etc. It is vital that the gift match the other person’s interest … so you may need to do some research. Suggest breakfast or lunch if you know the person well enough and think she/he would be comfortable with that offer. Generally, don’t suggest dinner as that can have a questionable connotation, particularly if the person is of the opposite sex.
· Optional: If the referral never pans out, you might after several months wish to notify the person giving it that nothing conclusive happened.
One of the prevalent themes at an IT seminar I attended is that technology people are usually far better at dealing with data than with people. One of the panelists recalled how in graduate school he was given an assignment that assumed he had been promoted and had to prioritize his new inbox. He recalled being soundly reprimanded for choosing to put three congratulatory notes at the bottom of the list and not respond to them.
I hope you know better!
Thank You is an Ongoing Process - To learn more about this author, visit Lillian D. Bjorseth's Website.
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Kim CastleWith nearly two decades in the advertising and design business, with clients like Domino's Pizza, General Motors, Direct TV, Pedigree, Wolfgang Puck, Higher Octave Music, Hollywood Celebrity Products, Disney, and Paramount, as well as thousands of entrepreneurs around the world define, structure, communicate, and position their business for greater profits, BrandU(R) co-creators Kim Castle and W. Vito Montone discovered that entrepreneurs could experience the same power that big brands command for a fraction of the cost with the world's only process-based results-drive Integral approach to business creation. BrandU(R) is helping entrepreneurs grow with the power of extreme clarity from idea...to brand...to market(TM) and helping one million entrepreneurs become successful and whole so that they can make a difference in the world. Are you one of them? If you want to experience clarity all the way to the bank(TM), get started now at http://www.brandu.com. - Visit Kim Castle's Website |
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Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
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Dianne CramptonDianne Crampton is an executive leadership coach, team culture consultant, author and president of TIGERS Success Series, Inc. Dianne has been helping CEO's and Executives connect their employees to their core values and goals for over 20 years using the trademarked TIGERS team culture process, which stands for trust, interdependence, genuineness, empathy, risk and success. To download a free white paper on behaviors that build strong teams and behaviors that will predictably tear them down go here. Dianne's contribution to the 2010 Pfeiffer Consulting Journal (an imprint of John Wiley and Sons Publishers) entitled TIGERS Hearted Teams is available in November 2009. Her new book TIGERS Among Us: 5 Winning Business Team Cultures And Why, Three Creeks Publishing will release in March 2010. To receive publishing discounts, subscribe to the free TigerTracks Newsletter here. - Visit Dianne Crampton's Website |
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