Profits in Progress

NOTE-ABLE Power Tips

3 Notes a Day, Paves the Way…

• To Stronger Relationships
• To Increased Sales
• To More Referrals
• To Personal Connections
• To Measurable Success
• To Lasting Impressions

At the bottom of this page, you'll find some books to help you with your Noteworking in the following areas:

• Follow Up
• Etiquette Essentials
• The Exponential Power of the “Law of 250”
• Praise People to Success

See what these experts have to say about the effectiveness of handwritten notes...

• Harvey Mackay, “Low-tech, handwritten notes never out of date”,
  In sales, never underestimate the importance of the personal gesture, and right at the top of the list of effective personal gestures sits the handwritten note.
  old.heraldextra.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=51146
  www.harveymackay.com/
• Andrea Nierenberg, “44 Networking Tips”
  (See #41) Do what I call the “Power of Three.” Each day, write three personal notes or cards; the power comes from them being handwritten. At the end of the week, you've made 15 contacts, and at the end of the year, over 750 goodwill connections. I have done this consistently for 15 years - it's the simplest and most powerful technique I know.
  www.eyesonsales.com/articles.php?a=265
  www.selfmarketing.com/about.html
• Tom Hopkins, “Developing The Thank You Notes Habit”,
  Because I understood that building relationships is what selling is all about, I began early in my career to send thank you notes to people. I set a goal to send ten thank you notes every day. That goal meant that I had to meet and get the names of at least ten people every day. I sent thank you notes to people I met briefly, people I showed properties to, people I talked with on the telephone, and people I actually helped to own new homes. I became a thank you note fool. And guess what happened? By the end of my third year in sales, my business was 100% referrals! The people I had expressed gratitude to were happy to send me new clients as a reward for making them feel appreciated and important.
  www.tomhopkins.com/article2.htm
  www.tomhopkins.com/
• Joe Girard, The World’s Greatest Salesman, How did Joe Girard sell 6 cars a day, everyday?
  He built and maintained relationships. Joe used to send 13 cards to all his prospects and clients every year. One every month and one for Christmas. He created a place for himself in the brains of his prospects and clients by keeping in touch with them. He made sure that he was in peoples' minds when they had to buy a car.
  The Guinness Book of World Records listed Joe Girard as the “World's Greatest Retail Salesman” for 12 consecutive years.
  www.biztactics.com/bullet-joe-girard.php
  www.joegirard.com
• Jeffrey Gitomer, The 33 cent Sales Call. (Now 39.)
  How often are you in front of your customers or prospects? Answer: Not as often as you should be.
  It takes 7–10 impressions to get a sale and begin to build a relationship. You can get there quicker if you use the mail. Not e–mail – regular old put–a–stamp–on–it mail mail. If you can't be there in person, send a letter.
  www.gitomer.com/index.cfm?GitAction=SalesHelp.ArticleDetail&ArticleID=1748
  www.gitomer.com
• Denise O'Berry, “If you want to be remembered...”
  Quick survey — how many of you have emails standing up on your bookshelves? Probably none. But I bet you have at least one personal note you've received from someone up there or saved in a file somewhere.
  www.allbusiness.com/blog/justforsmallbusiness/3357/001774.html
  www.deniseoberry.com
• David Nour, “Simple NOT to-dos in 2006”
  DON'T mass mail anything – personalize every correspondence; you'll make that much more of an impact. If it's worth doing, take the time to do it right for a smaller, but highly targeted group.
  relationshipcurrency.blogspot.com/2005/12/simple-not-to-dos-in-2006.html
  www.nourgroup.com
• Laura Laaman, “Handwriting thank-yous can pay off in a big way”,
  Because of e-mail, frequent communication has become so much easier but therefore, common. Sending a personal note has sustained its ability to create a lasting, positive impression. A handwritten note shows extra effort, attention to detail and is a huge competitive advantage ... Develop a system to track when you should send cards. The best of the best tend to do it daily or numerous times per week.
  www.bizjournals.com/extraedge/consultants/sell_more/2005/04/18/column163.html
  www.lauralaaman.com/about.html
• John Jantsch, “Hand-Written Notes Have Become A Power Tool”,
  When you take the time to send a client or prospect a thoughtfully hand written note, you:
  • Stand out from the crowd (nobody does this anymore and that's what makes it so powerful)
  • Say, I care enough to take the time to do this
  • Can't help but write something that is personal in nature (computers stink at that)
  • Make a connection with another form of communication (email, phone, web site, blog, note - you need them all)
  • Have the ability to make the person who receives the note feel special (if you can't figure out why that's a good marketing thing, I can't help you)
  • Will begin to receive more referrals (your clients will tell people about your unique habit)
  h20325.www2.hp.com/blogs/jantsch/archive/2006/02/13/759.html
  www.ducttapemarketing.com
• Karen Young, “Making Business Personal: The Power of a Handwritten Note”,
  “It is about the development of a personal relationship. If you have a good personal relationship, you're going to have a better client relationship, and that's going to be good for business.”
  www.law.com/jsp/law/sfb/lawArticleSFB.jsp?id=1126775111686
• Lydia Ramsey,“Business Note Etiquette: Sending Handwritten Notes”,
  There are few acts more impressive than handwriting a letter or a note to someone with whom you do business or would like to. Most people think that writing notes by hand requires extra time and effort. Ironically, it can be quick and painless if you do it frequently and follow these tips:
  www.sideroad.com/Business_Etiquette/business-etiquette-handwritten-notes.html
  www.mannersthatsell.com/
• Michael C. Gray, “How To Build Your Business With Thank You Notes”,
  In any business, but especially a business where there is contact with a customer and a representative of the company either in person or on the telephone, the best way I know to cement that relationship is through personal notes – thank you notes!
  www.profitadvisors.com/notes.shtml
• Diane Brady, “Jack Welch: Management Evangelist”,
  Welch would prod and praise them, sending out a flurry of handwritten notes, or champagne to spouses, for a task well done.
  www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/04_43/b3905032_mz072.htm
  www.jackwelchwinning.com/
• Syndi Seid, “Thanksgiving: A Perfect Time for Thank-You Notes”,
  A personal, handwritten thank-you note is the finest form of expressing gratitude. It takes the most effort and time and is the most tangible evidence of our genuine appreciation of the person to whom it is addressed.
  www.advancedetiquette.com/newsletter/nov04_issue.htm
  www.advancedetiquette.com

Books to Help Your Note-working!

Follow Up!

Once you've made the connection, follow up! In the book Never Eat Alone by Keith Ferrazzi, he says "Do you want to stand out from the crowd? Then you'll be miles ahead by following up better and smarter than the hordes scrambling for the person's attention. The fact is most people don't follow up very well, if at all. Good follow-up alone elevates you above 95 percent of your peers.

 While e-mail is one perfectly acceptable way to follow up, there are other methods to consider. A handwritten thank-you note these days can capture a person's attention. When you get something addressed to you personally, you open it. The thank-you note is an opportunity to reinforce a perception of continuity in a relationship and create an aura of goodwill."
www.ferrazzigreenlight.com/nevereatalone

Etiquette Essentials

 In her book, Business Class: Etiquette Essentials for Success at Work, Jacqueline Whitmore talks about writing a thank you note stating, “It takes just a few moments to write a brief thank-you note and there is a thousand-to-one return when you take the time to express your gratitude. People remember a thank you long after they have forgotten what they did for you.”

Along with handwritten notes, here are some other tools Ms. Whitmore suggests will make you a successful businessperson:

• Find out what you can about someone before the meeting
• Build a friendship and the sale will follow
• Send a late thank-you note rather than no note at all

www.etiquetteexpert.com

The Exponential Power of the "Law of 250"

The "Law of 250" is used by many of the top achievers to boost and maintain sales. Joe Girard is named the "World's Greatest Salesman" in the Guinness Book of World Records. In his book, How to Sell Anything to Anybody, Joe says, "If you got married, or died today, name all the people, family, friends, associates and acquaintances who would come to be with you or see you." After his research he determined that is about 250 people for most of us. That's the simple Law of 250. That's powerful; however, let's take it a step further as Mark Victor Hansen and Robert G. Allen did in their book, The One Minute Millionaire. "The average person knows at least 250 people. Then, each of these 250 people knows 250 people. So instantly, you have access to 62,500 people." That's exponential power — start staying in touch with your 250 today!
www.joegirard.com
www.oneminutemillionaire.com

Praise People to Success

Doris Christopher, CEO and founder of The Pampered Chef, writes about the start and the evolution of her company in her book The Pampered Chef, The Story of One of America's Most Beloved Companies. Here is what she has to say about using handwritten notes to “Praise People to Success” by motivating and encouraging her Kitchen Consultants in the early years. “Early on, I wrote personal handwritten notes to accompany monthly commission checks. I called everyone on birthdays, anniversaries, and during the holiday season. This isn't possible today. But I still send a birthday card to every Director, and notes or cards for other important life occasions, like births, deaths, and illnesses, and flowers with a card to upper-level Directors.” She goes on to say, “The personal touch is the small businessperson's biggest advantage over big companies.”
www.pamperedchef.com