Thanks…but No Thanks

Sure, we’re all able to punch out a tweet, one handed, in 140 characters, or less. But what about the simple 8 characters that constitutes ‘Thank you’, or even at a dash ‘Thanks’.

I noticed this, as we have a letters wall at CIB that we collect all of our thank you’s from clients. Looking back over thirty years, thank you letters were a fairly common occurrence. We’d even frame and put them up in our boardroom. But over the years these have dwindled. We still get some, so we must be doing something right and I’m fairly certain that the quality of our work hasn’t slipped to a level where we don’t deserve praise, but no, it seems that we’re all too busy to do the simple things.

And in this I mean, stop, think what you’re doing and connect on a human level. Everyone likes to be thanked, it makes us feel better, and it lightens our days.

So, next time someone, a supplier, or even an employee does something worth praising, think what they’ll appreciate most. A tweet? An email? Or perhaps the long form letter?

Think about it yourself. Which method would make you feel most valued?

So to set you on your merry way, pass on the Thanks – it might be infectious, or if you’re too busy #thanks