When Was the Last Time You Thanked Your Customers?
On Thursday, many families (that couldn’t get together last year, for obvious reasons) will go one-by-one around the dinner table & announce one thing they are thankful for. Feel good moments, for sure.
My favorite is when one of the younger nieces or nephews, not comfortable yet speaking in public, will invariably look down at their plate & say they are thankful for their “friends & family.” Happens every year. Like clockwork! Yes, they pick one day out of the year to announce to family that they are thankful for them. It’s precious.
Makes me wonder how often we thank our customers & clients for the business.
Really take the time to thank them.
How often do we think to ourselves, “They know we’re appreciative, we’ve been supplying them forever?” How often do we take for granted that our customers know we are thankful? All too often.
We’re busy. They’re busy. We’ll see them eventually. It’ll come up. It never comes up.
But it can. If you really want it to.
One thing my mom always said (& it wasn’t just at the Thanksgiving table) is that a Thank You is never inappropriate. Think about that one for a second. A Thank You is never inappropriate. It’s so true!
As long as you are genuine. As long as you are serious. As long as you mean it. . . a Thank You is never inappropriate. So why don’t we start doing it more?
Here are some ideas. Ways to take the time to give Thanks to our clients & customers:
- A phone call. A call to specifically thank your customer for their business. No other purpose.
- A lunch. A lunch to specifically thank your client for their business. No other purpose.
- A Thank You card. With a handwritten note inside & a handwritten address & a real stamp (more personal).
- A game or a concert. Say thanks & don’t talk business.
- A round of golf. Say thanks & don’t talk business.
- A holiday card (but not necessarily a Christmas card). How much fun would it be for a customer, whose family hails from Dublin, to get a Happy St. Patrick’s Day card?
- A gift that is personal. Think it through. What will stand out to this customer? What does this person care about? What would mean a lot? Don’t give a bottle of red wine to a beer drinker. Doesn’t need to be expensive. Just needs to have thought behind it.
Now is as good a time as any to get in the groove. The Thank You for the business groove. It’s never inappropriate
