Personal Touch Not Only Matters, It’s the Difference Maker

by Ryan Cox | Aug 17, 2020 | Blog posts

I learned a lesson some 13 years ago that continues to prove itself to be one of the best lessons learned ever. Personal touch matters to people. Early in my professional career I started to write thank you notes. There really wasn’t any rhyme or reason to why I got started, I just had the idea one day it’d be a good idea. I was an “Entrepreneur” (heavy on the air quotes) and was trying to differentiate myself and create memorable encounters. I’d never read about anyone sending personal notes “just because” and I thought I’d try it.

If I set the meeting? Handwrote and mailed a thank you note.
If they set the meeting? Handwrote and mailed a thank you note.
Had a long engagement with someone ontheline? Handwrote and mailed a thank you note.
Feelings of just serious gratitude for someone? Handwrote and mailed a thank you note.

You get the idea.

Didn’t email, didn’t tweet, didn’t shoot a text….I wrote handwritten thank you cards and snail-mailed them.

Guess what? It fucking worked. Not only did I very quickly build some pretty meaningful relationships, but I started to build a being-known-for “thing” that sure didn’t suck. I’m an empath, I ‘feel’ very strongly. So sharing those feelings of gratitude, love, appreciation, excitement, thankfulness, etc. is like breathing air for someone like me. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized this was about as low-hanging of a fruit as it got.

Dear [person’s name],

[Here is something about our conversation that lets you know I was listening and it resonated with me.] [Here is something I hold near to me and am very appreciative about you.] [Here is something that challenges you to do X.] [Here is a motivational comment that shows you I’m invested in you too.]

I appreciate you,

Ryan

I mean I had a template. And guess what, that diminishes the value of sending the handwritten thank you card exactly 0.00%. The “framework” is the only repetitive part, so get over it. Having a framework makes it easier to repeat the HOW, not the what or why.

Eventually my thank you sending grew outside of just saying thanks for meetings and/or relationships. What do I mean exactly?

Congratulations for big business / life events
Appreciation for opportunities
Just wanting to pour into someone who’s cup was getting low

I realized there were a lot more than just, “thanks for meeting with me” reasons to send handwritten cards. The more connected our world is with computers in our pockets and a microphone to say one thing to the entire world, the more desired personal touch points have become.

Question: Excluding birthdays and holidays, can you remember the last time you got a handwritten card? How did it make you feel? It’s 2020, generally speaking we don’t like to physically write something if we don’t have to. When was the last time you wrote a full paragraph in cursive? So the mental ‘wow factor’ we attach to something that is handwritten is real. Additionally, sending a thank you tweet takes 10 seconds and is free. A handwritten thank you isn’t free and takes significantly more time compared to a tweet, so again, we attach a mental “wow factor” to it.

But I was tired of going to Target and getting generic thank you cards and using them for everything. Some of the cards I was sending weren’t really a ‘thanks’ situation either so it wasn’t ideal. Back in July I was scrolling on Instagram and my friend Meggie posted a picture of what looked like some custom greeting cards. And that’s when I had an idea and I got into building mode.

What if this person could create custom greeting cards for me?

Celebration, Thank You, Thinking of You, Sending You Good Energy, Congratulations….#allthecards

What if they were not only customized, creative and personal but ALSO were on-brand (for me) color schemes with my branding not the card makers on the back of the cards?

So I reached out to Emma (of Emma B Design Co.) and asked her if that was something she’d be interested in doing. A little more than a month later we have an entire concept executed and I got my first round of cards. Needless to say, I’m over the moon with how they turned out.

My brand colors are subtly weaved throughout each individual card’s color scheme and I have my company branding on the back of the card. So instead of XYZ card company branding on the back, it’s my company.

Building real relationships is my end-game, if you know anything about me you know that I take investing in building relationships as serious as Buffet takes investing in stocks. And I like to send friends, clients heck even potential clients random gifts or cards because it’s just who I am. The fact that it works to build good business relationships TOO is also a really cool thing. Guess what, they’re MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE of each other. BOTH can be true, and it doesn’t mean you do one because of the other.

With that being said…….it’s a hell of a good way to build real relationships, set yourself apart from other businesses, add a personal touch they haven’t seen before…….oh and it’s really fulfilling. So I have just one question for you: Why haven’t you emailed Emma yet?

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