The Business Thank You Card - An Important Relationship Building Technique

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Why Send a Business Thank You Card?

We sometimes attend conferences, seminars or symposiums as a way of keeping up with the latest developments in our industry. It’s only natural that we make new acquaintances when we attend these events. Of course, there are other fellow conference attendees to meet. And, most likely, we will meet some people from companies in our industry or from our industry customers and suppliers. We may even be fortunate enough to meet some of the speakers and presenters. Regardless of whom we meet, there are going to be a certain percentage that we are going to be interested in developing ongoing relationships with.

When the time comes to return home, will that opportunity to create multiple beneficial relationships be lost forever? For most of us, unfortunately that is the case. It’s not that we didn’t do anything. Most likely, we did the traditional ritual business card exchange. But what happened to those business cards when we got back to the office?

Most of them ended up just floating around in our desk drawers until we eventually threw them away. Others of us (the more organized of us) filed them away neatly in our Rolodexes or in our business card files - before throwing them away several months later. Still others of us (the most efficient of us) had the foresight to throw them in the trash at the airport on the way home.

So the point is that most of us let the opportunity to stay in touch with new business acquaintances slip away. The business thank you card is the perfect way to allow you to keep in touch with those people. Because it is both a business communication and a personal complement, it’s is great way to cultivate a business relationship.

When to Send the Business Thank You Card?

You should send the business thank you card as soon as you return home. You want the card to arrive while their memory of you is still fresh. Remember, these are people that you just met. If you wait weeks to send the business thank you card, they may or may not remember you.

In addition, if you send the business thank you card immediately, it will also send a secondary message that that person is important to you. If you wait a lengthy period of time, the secondary message implies that you were able to get to that person when “time permitted”.

Filling Out the Business Thank You Card

The hardest part of sending the card is filling it out. This is the point were we need to employ our creative writing skills a little bit. The problem is that many of us (while we may be good businessmen, or engineers, or managers) may not be the greatest writers. In a word, we need help.

Fortunately, there are many resources available on the internet and at your bookstore to help you craft or select great phrases to write on the card.

My favorite resource for this task is a handy book called Words to the Rescue. It’s a great aid in filling out a business thank you card. <-- CLICK HERE to download FREE SAMPLES of some of the more than 1000 phrases to write on business thank you card. - or any kind of cards.

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