Thank You Very Much.

Honesty as a business strategy, from my previous Extreme Sports article, seems to be gaining advocacy among business people looking to differentiate themselves from the used car mentality of making money at all costs. From this thinking, idea tangents fly in all directions and one particular tangent is also gaining momentum. There is always something to complain about, from the ubiquitous, weather, traffic, real estate, to the mundane, how come there are so few corn chips in those enormous packets, to global economics, why can't Greece just man up and go austerity drive?

In fact there is so much complaining that some experts have come to calling this global epidemic "gratitude deficit disorder" and calling for people to reverse the cycle and have more than just public holidays and successful cricket teams to be thankful for. People love to have an opinion and it often leans towards the complaining side of the equation, as examples of service and attitude issues encountered in our business lives become all consuming. So we tell everyone we know or at least everyone that will listen, about the sorry state of the business environment we have to endure and how hard it is to get things done the right way. When was the last time someone took time to thank you for something and not take your work for granted? When was the last time you went out of your way to thank someone for doing their work well or going the extra mile for you?

The old adage of telling only one person when you get great service and telling three when you don't has been magnified by the web into full blown tear them down because you can and tear them down because they don't know who you are syndrome.
We all expect and accept the best from products and services, so much so, that when things go the way they should, we don't even bother to acknowledge the people or the service encountered. It is all taken for granted but when the slightest deviation from this course takes place, we focus unendingly on the break down without reference to any prior satisfaction we may have had from the product or service.

Business is about filling a need and if you look at it obliquely, then the thank you business strategy has legs. Everyone wants to be recognised and appreciated for their efforts in making your experience the best. So if you can go out of your way and thank people and show their endeavours make a difference, that is the most satisfying feeling people can get. People will work for appreciation and suddenly you have engaged workers providing a product or service far superior than previously encountered. The only stipulation is the need for the gratitude to be sincere with no agenda attached. The guide to giving good thanks has always been the same, make sure it's about them, not you, make sure you are specific in your thanks, make sure it's an old school thanks and not just a quick email and lastly make sure it's a continuous process.

Thanks for attending, thanks for purchasing and thanks for choosing us, wont solicit the response required and comes across as self serving expedient marketing dross. Real gratitude is earned with honest and respectful recognition of a job well done. So could that cognition of real gratitude be a money spinner for your business. No one seems to be doing it, so why shouldn't you fill that gap?