In a recent blog post, Rich Millington challenged the traditional wisdom of sending a thank you note.
Thank you notes feel like the right thing to do in most situations.
The problem is people tend to give them little time or attention.
The moment they see ‘thank you’ in the subject line of an email [or on the surface of a card], they know what to expect.
And a thank you note feels like a final message, and it often ends the discussion.
I think Rich may be minimizing the importance and benefit of expressing gratitude, but his alternative of sending a “next-steps” note is brilliant.
Listing out the next steps someone can take drives more activity.
It shows the recipient you want to keep them involved, and you think they have more to give.
Could gratitude be combined with some “next-steps” in a single message?
Perhaps this would be the best for recruiting correspondence—it feels warm, but acknowledges the need to keep things moving.
