Lifetime Thank You Thread
The virtual relationship builder
TLDR: Owning and maintaining the context of important relationships will help you develop a personal brand and create long-term value for yourself.
Some mornings topics just fall in my lap.
I was texting with a friend at 7am about a CEO she was trying to meet.
We were just brainstorming alternative introduction paths.
Creativity creates options, options improve odds.
We quickly came up with two, and one of them immediately came through.
She pursued the second one too, because why not. Here’s a snippet of that conversation:
“I just sent an email to X. A reply from our previous email chain (a trick I think you taught me).”
I love it when this happens. When someone actually takes your advice… and it works.
This particular hack is one that I share often, but I can count on one hand the number of people who actually use it.
I call it the “lifetime thank you thread.”
Let’s start with why.
I was 23 or 24 years old, and we had a summer sales training in Chicago.
During one of the sessions, our SVP who was three or four levels above me got on stage and started talking about the value of writing on LinkedIn. We had just released the publishing platform, and I had just started writing—kind of like this actually.
He pulled up a few examples of employees embodying this, and to my surprise, I was one of them.
Recognition has this funny way of making you feel seen and important.
Later that day, we went out for drinks as a team and he was at the bar. At the time I had never even met him, so I introduced myself, and thanked him for the shoutout.
About six months later, we were at sales kickoff. I walked up to the front row of what must have been a 500-1000 person event, saw him there, and said hello.
His response: “remind me your name again?”
I couldn’t blame him, despite finishing #2 in my department that year, he was still responsible for a pretty large organization and we had only met one time six months earlier.
It was in that moment that I realized just how wide the pyramid really was at the base.
These executives had hundreds, if not thousands of people, trying to have a very similar moment with them—an opportunity to build their personal brands.
So I came up with a little strategy.
The idea was to find an opportunity to engage with all of our senior executives in an organic way, but one that provided a strong context for out first interaction, and I would follow it with a lifetime thank you thread.
The goal was to develop a brand over time with these individuals, and do so by retaining the positive framing and context from our first meeting.
So that’s what I did.
Over the next few years, I found opportunities to engage with our executive team. Client meetings, President’s Club, recognizing someone else, all-hands meetings, asking a thoughtful question, congratulating them, etc. It was simple. Here’s an example:
“Hey X, it was great seeing you at President’s Club last week. I just wanted to thank you for investing in our culture the way that you do, and for showing up the way that you did. It means a lot to feel like the work we do here is so important, and I’m learning an incredible amount from the way you lead this team. Hope you had a safe trip home.”
Ask for nothing.
A few months later, I wanted career advice, so I replied to that same thread to avoid the experience of not being remembered. It went something like:
“Hey X, I’m still thinking about that trip, and gunning to be back there this year! I will be in Sunnyvale in two weeks, and I am wondering if we can find 15 minutes. I would love to ask a question or two, in-person, about your leadership.”
The beauty of this is that the context of where they met me and how they knew me was controlled by the first email in the thread.
His advice helped me land my first management gig. I was the youngest people manager at LinkedIn globally at the time.
That same advice helped me develop a strategy to win, and we finished the year as the number one team too.
His advice, if you’re interested: taking on a new job or leading a new team requires only three things. 1) Have an honest conversation with your team, 2) Plant the flag together, and 3) Pick only one meaningful thing, and see it all the way through.
I would go on to use that same email thread, and that advice, for years.
I did this with almost everyone, including my customers, and the results were incredible…
1:1 meetings with executives
Introductions to mentors
Transformative career advice from our most senior leadership
I was able to skip levels with promotions and move across business lines
I deepened customer relationships and won bigger deals
And I started to actually have a personal brand within the company
As I built my brand with the people I admired, many relationships graduated to texting and became actual professional connections I could rely on.
Sure, it’s a tiny little hack, but one that’s absolutely worthwhile.
Seek out the people you admire and want to build a relationship
Find a reason to engage that paints you in the context you want to be remembered
Send a thoughtful note with a grateful subject line
Ask for nothing
Use that thread to follow-up
Continue to use that thread for years
Eventually, you’ll be able to ask for help
And sometimes, your mentors will become your friends
Give it a shot. Stick with it. Trust is equal to consistency over time.
See you Monday.
Building relationships is important as you establish and grow your personal and professional network. Having a growth mindset is to be open-minded and be a life long learner.
Jeff’s “Lifetime Thank You Thread” strategy may seem simple, but it's brilliant. I've built much of my network thanks to my mentor Harvey Mackay and I look forward to sharing this tip with him.
I can't wait to search names in my inbox and go back to older threads to pick up on this morning! Thanks Jeff
Elliot
I wish more people adopted this philosophy, which in many ways, is just good common sense. The amount of noise in my inbox is ridiculous and filtering out the people who truly want to engage is difficult.