Say Please And Thank-You

Posted by Nathan

October 30, 2007

I was discussing Rich Schefren’s coaching group with somebody on the Warrior Forum a couple weeks ago, and he mentioned that a lot of what Rich is teaching can be found in Dan Sullivan’s materials.

I didn’t have anything by Sullivan, so I picked up one of his low-end products, How the Best Get Better, and it was actually fabulous. I was sincerely impressed and recommend that you get it if you want some insights on things that nobody else is talking about. (If you’re an entrepreneur, you should not have a desk… for example.)

But there was one section, titled Referability habits, where Sullivan talks about the four basic things you absolutely must do to get anywhere as a professional (or as a person, if you ask me).

Be on time
Do what you say you’ll do
Finish what you start
Say please and thank-you

That last one, Say please and thank-you, reminded me of a recent occurrence with a company that I sent a referral to.

It was the beginning of an outsourcing project for me and things were going well-enough to recommend their services to a friend. That friend turned out to be worth $5,000+ to the company for her first project (who knows what could happen down the road).

The company knows me… they also have my phone numbers, e-mail address and home address… do you think they sent me a letter saying Thank You For The Referral?

If you gave another professional $5,000 would you like to hear “thank-you”?

I would too!

But guess what… NOT A WORD HAS BEEN SAID. I even spoke with the CEO of the company on the phone a few weeks later and we talked about my friend’s project for several minutes… and again, a simple thank-you was nowhere to be found.

When doing Joint Ventures or simple Referrals to other companies, you should expect to be thanked. And I tell this story for two reasons:

I believe that the company in error will read this message and hopefully get a clue.

I hope that as a professional, you’ll remember to be thankful for what people do for you. Taking a moment out of the day to send an e-mail, make a phone call… or go the extra-mile and send a letter… will do wonders for the relationships with your clients and friends.