How Did My Professional Thank You Note Get That Response?
I sent a hand-written thank you note, which is extremely rare these days, and two helpful books. I followed an acronym I created called G.R.E.A.T (Grateful, Reference, Explanation, Action, Thanks). I use this process when I write all my professional thank you notes.
Thank you notes are very tricky to write. They are not as straight forward as thenetworking follow up email. So let’s get into it.
A couple of weeks ago I spoke with Lea McLeod. Lea is the founder of Degrees Of Transition, a career website that helps recent grads and mid-careerists navigate the job search. Lea is super smart and someone who really understands the career space.
I took about two pages of notes during the phone call (Here’s Why!) After getting off the phone with Lea my head was spinning with tons of great ideas. I wanted to do something special for Lea, besides simply sending a professional thank you note.
During our phone call Lea mentioned that she wanted to book more speaking gigs. I asked her if she read Michael Ports book, “Book Yourself Solid” and she hadn’t. We also talked about a book called the “The Power Of Habit” by Charles Duhigg. I went on Amazon and bought both of the books. I had them shipped to my house (so I could include my hand written professional thank you note).
Next, I opened up a Word document (I draft every professional thank you note I send before I write on the actually card) and started writing the thank you note following the acronym: G.R.E.A.T.