Like me, I’m sure when you were growing up your parents constantly reminded you to use your ‘Ps & Qs’, and saying ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ was something you quickly understood the importance of. These powerful words are ingrained into our everyday vocabulary but do you truly understand just how much these words can mean from a business perspective?
‘Thank you’ is one of the greatest opportunities you have in your business:
- Thank people for giving you the opportunity to look after their needs and desires, whether it be when providing a quote, service or product.
- Thank your staff for doing a great job – recognise when they go the extra mile, thank them for their every day efforts or for offering suggestions, thoughts or ideas.
- Thank your clients for doing business with you. Show them that you do appreciate them selecting your offering. Reward them for their repeat custom or for referring business your way. Usually people have so many options to choose from, no matter what they are seeking, make sure you thank them for choosing you or your business.
- Thank your suppliers or wholesalers for giving you great products, merchandise, items to sell or support. It’s important to treat your suppliers as you would your clients – you may be their client but they will prefer to deal with grateful people with the right attitude. Developing relationships with your suppliers and service providers is crucial to your success.
- Thank your family and friends for their support, loyalty and assistance – often they enable you to be free to carry out your work, will offer an ear to listen when needed, and help you out when you least expect it.
There are also lots of ways to say ‘thank you’ and show your appreciation.
Words are always appreciated, especially when said with meaning, but express your thanks in other ways too!
- Cards can be a great way to say ‘thanks’, especially in today’s world when a hand-written note is a rarity with the digital world being so prominent.
- Send or present a small gift such as a bottle of wine or a box of chocolates.
- Flowers can also be a great gift to express your thanks.
- Rather than being a tangible item, you may wish to express thanks by offering to give someone your time, assisting them with a task or offering a ‘value-add’ item.
- Reward offers, points offers, loyalty cards, incentives and value adds/upgrades can also be a great way to thank people by showing you value their business.
Time to put on your thinking cap and work out how best you can say ‘thank you’ to your staff, customers and suppliers.
All it takes is a little time and effort, but people will appreciate you more if you thank them. The value will be returned back several times over whether you are rewarded with a new client, referred business, happy support staff or even just a smile. It’s worth it – remember your Ps and Qs every day!
And thank you for taking time to read this blog!
