Over the past couple of months I’ve written two articles for ASAE’s magazine Associations Now. In both cases, once the article was published, I received a couple of extra copies of the magazine and a handwritten note from Lisa Junker, the deputy editor of the magazine, thanking me for my work. Both times I was very impressed to receive the note, because in the past fifteen years that I’ve done volunteer work at ASAE (volunteer committee work, speaking, writing, judging), I can count on one hand the number of handwritten notes I’ve received. Oh sure, I get the form letter thank you, but rarely is it handwritten.
I write handwritten notes occasionally, and I’m always struck by how people react to receiving them. I almost always receive a “thank you” email in response to my notes. The simple fact is that very few of us take the time to write handwritten notes, whether to say “Thank you” or simply “Nice to meet you.” That means that any handwritten note stands out.
And now that Lisa has taken the time to write me (not once, but twice) you can be sure that in the future, when she contacts me, she’ll have my undivided attention.