Some time ago, after I posted a blog titled, Are you connecting or struggling to make conversation?, I got this message from a client – Steve Cranny at Courtyard Electronics Limited.
Being that he lives in the U.K., we hadn’t been in touch for a while so it was wonderful to re-connect. He has given me permission to share his thoughts with you in this post. Thanks Steve!
He wrote:
“I have read your blog post, and yes, I agree connecting is vital. It’s certainly food for thought and something I could harp on about for ages! At this point I started to put down a few thoughts, but soon found that I was writing much more than that. It began to feel like the introduction to a book on the subject! So rather than bore you to death with my lengthy and uneducated ramblings about it here, I’ll endeavour to put more considered thoughts down in another message.
“Here’s one for you to think about, and given your profession, I think you are the ideal person to ask. In many ways this also relates to the subject of connecting with people too. Once upon a time people used to write letters to each other – on paper. I certainly did, and it was a very enriching experience, and I still have in my possession a pile of letters I have received. That was on a personal level. In the early years of my business I used to send hand written facsimile messages to business contacts around the world.
“Later of course everything moved to email, and more recently, Facebook and Twitter . . . Some years ago a business contact in Spain would occasionally send me a fax message (hand written) even though we were in email contact at the time. When I asked her why, she explained to me that she felt it was important to keep a personal element to the relationship and that handwriting required her to think more about what she wrote, and achieve that goal. I completely agree with here and still unashamedly use her idea.”
In addition to asking Steve for his permission to post his message, I replied saying:
Yes, I still love to get handwritten letters, but rarely do. I do send out handwritten thank you notes. birthday cards, etc., to people whenever I can and I know the recipients really appreciate it.
It’s hard to ignore Instagram, LinkedIn & Facebook, with so many businesses participating in it. Yet, I agree that handwritten notes have a much more personal touch.
When I lived on Kaua`i, the post office didn’t deliver mail to me. I was in a remote area & had to use a PO Box. However, it still felt good to open the box and find something from a friend vs. a bill!
As Steve wrote: “Can you remember the feeling you got when the postman delivered a handwritten letter? I do. So, in this digital world of instant communication should we be texting, posting on social networks, or writing? What say you?” Feel free to reach out to me, like Steve did, and let me know your thoughts. Thanks a million!
