TIL that sending a handwritten note after a meeting can really mess up your follow-up plan.

I mean, I sent a thank you card to a prospect in Chicago after a demo last month, thinking it would stand out. But their assistant told me it got lost on their desk for over two weeks, so my scheduled email sequence felt totally out of sync. Has anyone else had a physical touchpoint actually delay the process instead of helping?

3 comments

3 Comments

margaretj403mo ago

Ugh, my handwritten thank you once got me a "return to sender" stamp.

hugobarnes3mo ago

Did they even try to deliver it or just give up at the first hard to read letter? I had a package sent back once because the label got a little smudged in the rain. The post office said the address was "illegible" but you could totally still make out the numbers. It feels like they sometimes just don't want to put in the extra minute to figure it out.

emery3562mo ago

Agree with the premise but see it differently. That card probably did stand out more than the emails, just in a bad way since it landed late. Physical mail takes a gamble on timing and postal routes, so you're trading certainty for a personal touch that can backfire if it arrives out of sync. Maybe the fix is sending it before the email sequence starts, not after. The delay hurts the follow-up plan, but the note itself still shows effort a generic email can't match.