“Is there such a thing as too much Gratitude?”. I believe somebody said before: “Gratitude is a currency that we can mint for ourselves, and spend without fear of bankruptcy.”
As I am constantly working with small business I am persistently reminding them that gratitude is a tool that we have at our disposal and that very few of us choose to utilize it to its full potential.
If you think that retaining customers matters than incorporate gratitude into your business plan.
I’m sure each one of us bought from (worked with) companies which have clearly had the attitude: you don’t matter to us. It may have been their customer service, the secretary, the cashier or even the guy who opened the door for you. Whatever was the reason you have chosen not to deal with them anymore it was not because of the product or service per se, but because of their attitude. Whichever way you look at it gratitude has a sound business case.
You always gonna go back to the grateful people, because this is the human nature. And not just that but you probably gonna recommend them to your friends cause you want them to have the same great experience.
Where to begin? Just say thank you…all the time. Somebody told me before to buy a box of thank you cards and immediately send a “handwritten” note to all my best customers thanking them for their support/services/purchase. For bigger companies why not type something on your company letterhead.
Whichever way you are doing it, first organize yourselves. A checklist is the simplest way to go.
You meet a sales prospect. Thank you card (email) straight away when going back to your office. Tick the box.
You present them with your job proposal. Thank you card. Tick.
They accept the proposal…..well you know the drill by now. Thank you card and tick the box :-).
It may sound a bit excessive at first, but trust me in a few months time it’s going to come so naturally to you that you gonna be like: “I have to thank Omi for this one….and send him a bottle of red wine cause he likes it”. And I promise I’m going to be grateful 🙂 lol
Not to go into details but please express gratitude everywhere: your business, at work, at home, in the supermarket to the guy who makes the bread every day, towards your social connections (+David Amerland – “Express gratitude when I should” – here: http://goo.gl/25YiHJ and +Teodora Petkova – “Cherish the bridges of that you build along the way” – here: http://goo.gl/4keaJJ).
In the end no theory is good without examples. The one I always give to people.
Last year went on Amazon to buy some running equipment. Had a lot of choices, so I randomly bought from the middle priced shop. What do you know. The guy went all the way checking my social media profiles and after noticing that I am a big motorbike lover he included a motorbike scarf and a thank you note with my running gear.It may have cost him £2/4$ but guess where all my gym mates are buying their gym equipment from? He had me at “Thank you” anyway.
PS Article inspired by a hangout organised by Network Round Table Small Biz Happy Hour HOA here: http://goo.gl/XvGthQ
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