My mother would make a point to send out thank-you letters to people on a regular basis and taught her children to do the same. My wife is fantastic at thank-you notes, but it seems to have become outdated for most folks. I would love to highlight my mother and wife’s lessons of gratitude and thank-you notes featuring them as a communications and managerial tool.

Thank-you notes, even a few lines open doors to meaningful relationships and connections. Once you have established a rapport, you can offer thanks as well as advice and suggestions.

This is a clever leadership approach. Showing appreciation and recognition to those who deserve it works to stimulate enthusiasm, hard work, and loyalty. When you look at lists of companies with the lowest turnover rates, “encouraging environment” is one of the key reasons people stay — right up there with pay and benefits. No better way to create a positive atmosphere than showing your gratitude in a handwritten personal note.

It is also a smart marketing approach. Every business I have been a part of in the past forty plus years, there were times when we found that traditional advertising was not affordable at certain times in our business. Our staff and I would write handwritten thank-you notes to customers, potential customers and even to our employees on a regular basis. At one time in my career, we had close to 250 employees cleaning buildings for us. One of my seven managers or I wrote personal notes to the person cleaning the buildings each time we went by to see our clients and check on our services we left an encouraging note on the trash barrel for the employee. The cleaning person is the last person that gets thanked, but not on our watch. We wanted them to know that what they did had an influence in the lives of people that worked in that building.

I learned the value of note writing from Bruce Berman who brought me on as his first employee at The Everclean Companies, back in the 70’s. He was the master of writing notes of appreciation to others and the habit has stayed with me all these years.

After I left the company and moved on to a new venture in the staffing business in the 90’s, the habit continued. I began writing notes to all my full-time employees on their paychecks. One time we had an applicant come into our staffing company and the hiring manager who was interviewing the candidate saw that he had worked at our cleaning company, paused, and asked him if he knew me. To her surprise, he went to his wallet and pulled out a note I had written to him years ago and read it to her. He told her he had never had a note like that before in his life. He had been carrying it in his wallet for years.  Notes make an impression.

I wonder how many have kept notes they received and carried them in their purse or wallet, or keep them in a drawer for times when they get discouraged or just need a pick me-up.

There are even benefits when you express your gratitude to those you feel might not deserve it. Sometimes it may be a note to someone that just dropped by your office to see you or even a cranky person. Even showing generosity to rude people undermines their negativity, disarms them, and can often turn their mood or demeanor around. That is what we should do.

If you are reading this today, take a few minutes to send someone a thank-you note. If you mail it, it will cost sixty-nine cents, plus the envelope, but will be worth it.